Box Score
Box Score

Friday night (Nov. 4) was Senior Night at Gross Memorial Coliseum and the Fort Hays State volleyball team cruised to a three-set victory over Missouri Southern (25-16, 25-19, 25-19). The win improves the Tigers to 16-13 on the season and 4-10 in MIAA play. It also gives FHSU a chance to clinch a winning season with a victory over Southwest Baptist on Saturday.

Fort Hays State set the tone early, putting down 18 kills and hitting .371 in the first set en route to the 25-16 set win. Madison Schwartz and Yadira Jacquez each put down five kills in the set while Jenna Ulrich added four. Jacquez continued her hot hitting in the second set, putting down another seven kills, including four consecutive in the midle of the set which put the Tigers up 8-5. FHSU would not relinquish that lead and went on to take the set at 25-19.

After the honoring the Tigers lone senior Tracie Hileman at the intermission, Fort Hays State came out slowly to start the third set and fell behind 4-1. FHSU spread the offense around and got kills from Kylee Hoagland, Megan Glandon, Ulrich and Jacquez to pull even at 5-5 before taking the lead for good. The lead would get as high as eight at 17-9 before Missouri Southern pulled it to within three at 21-18, forcing Kurt Kohler to call his only timeout of the match. Jacquez was once again the answer out of the timeout, putting down her 14th kill of the night which was followed by a Schwartz kill and two Lion errors and FHSU finished the set out 25-19.

Jacquez and Schwartz led the Tiger attack with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Kayla Zoglman had a double-double with 32 assists and 15 digs while Hileman also got 15 digs from the libero position. Ulrich had another strong defensive effort, adding seven blocks (one solo, six assist) to her eight kills.

Missouri Southern, who drops to 5-21 (3-11 MIAA) on the year, got 12 kills from Rachel Olinyk, but only hit .084 as a team. Sydney Potts had 26 assists for the Lions and Casey Ball (12) and Katie Collins (11) each recorded double figures in digs.

Fort Hays State will play their final home match of the 2011 season on Saturday night (Nov. 5) against Southwest Baptist. Fans who attend the Fort Hays State vs. Missouri Southern football match at 2:00 pm tomorrow afternoon will be admitted free with their ticket stub.