Emporia State responded after a second-set letdown to pull away and win 25-16, 23-25, 25-16, 25-16 against Newman at Fugate Gymnasium in Wichita on Thursday night. The Lady Hornets stifled the Jets defensively in the first set holding NU to just eight kills with eight errors on 40 swings in the first. The Navy & Red turned things around in the second set to hit .359 with just one attack error to tie the match, but ESU matched Newman with just one attack error in the third to hit .467 in the set to claim the lead. The Emporia State defense didn’t let Newman get anything going in the fourth to claim the victory. Junior outside hitter Sandora Sasaki led E-State with 24 kills. Emporia State wraps up the season at 13-15, 7-13 in the MIAA, nine wins better overall than 2022 and six wins better inside ‘Association’ play. Emporia State will be the No. 8 seed in the MIAA Tournament set for next week at the Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Mo. Emporia State will play either Central Missouri, Nebraska-Kearney, or Central Oklahoma in the first round. First serve for the match is set for 5:00 p.m. Thursday, November 16.
UPDATE: An initial version of this story reported that Grace Xu led the Lady Hornets in assists. The official stats reported by Newman for assists at the time of publication were incorrect.
