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Box Score 2
The Fort Hays State volleyball team capped off their action at the Southwest Baptist Purple Bash on Saturday (Sept. 10) with a victories over Central Oklahoma and Southern Arkansas. It took the Tigers five sets to down the Bronchos and four to put away the Muleriders.
Fort Hays State def. Central Oklahoma 3-2 (25-23, 15-25, 25-18, 14-25, 15-12)
The Tigers first match on Saturday was against Central Oklahoma, and the two teams did not disappoint, putting on a five-set thriller for the fans in Bolivar. The teams traded sets, with FHSU taking the first and third and the Bronchos taking the second and fourth to set up the deciding fifth set. The Tigers battled back to win the fifth set 15-12 and the match at three sets to two.
Fort Hays State opened the match on a roll, getting out to a 5-0 lead before the Bronchos got on the board. Central Oklahoma managed to stay close, getting within two on multiple occasions, but were never allowed to get any closer and FHSU put them away at 25-23 on a kill be sophomore
Jenna Ulrich.
The second set was another story, with the Tigers hitting a .000 percentage thanks to nine hitting errors to just two by the Bronchos, who hit .294. Alex Richardson had seven kills in the set to help UCO tie the match at one set apiece. Fort Hays State would again rebound for the third set, hitting .237 for the set and getting five kills from freshman
Kylee Hoagland and four from sophomore
Camille Hubert to take the set 25-18.
The back-and-forth play would continue into the fourth set, with Central Oklahoma getting back to hitting the ball strong and capitalizing on errors by Fort Hays State. UCO hit .286 for the set with 13 kills to just nine for FHSU and they were aided by eight Tiger errors in taking the set 25-14.
Fort Hays State quickly regrouped for the fifth set and made a charge after falling behind at 3-1 early. Kills by Hoagland and sophomore
Madison Schwartz tied the set at 4-4, and the teams would trade points and be tied at every point from then until 12-12. After an attack error by the Bronchos gave FHSU a 13-12 lead, the Tigers defense stepped up and sealed the victory. First, Hoagland and Hubert combined for a block on UCO's Alex Richardson to put FHSU up 14-12. A Central Oklahoma timeout momentarily halted the FHSU momentum, but the Hoagland and junior
Kayla Zoglman combined for another block of UCO to give FHSU the deciding fifth set at a score of 15-12.
Fort Hays State took the match despite being outhit .116 to .080 and having fewer kills, digs and assists than Central Oklahoma. Hoagland led the offensive charge with 15 kills and she added seven blocks (two solo, five assist). Sophomore
Makenzie Weinman had 22 digs to lead FHSU, while senior
Tracie Hileman added 20. Zoglman had 41 of the teams 43 assists and also added 12 digs.
Central Oklahoma was led by the strong hitting of Alex Richardson, who had 20 kills and a .164 hitting percentage. Sam Cool also had 11 kills for UCO, who dropped to 4-4 with the loss.
Fort Hays State def. Southern Arkansas 3-1 (25-19, 25-16, 21-25, 25-21)
The Tigers turned in another solid performance in the nightcap, downing Southern Arkansas in four sets. The key for the Tigers was getting off to a quick start in each set. FHSU jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the first set, mainly thanks to errors by the Muleriders. Capitalizing on the SAU errors was key as the Tigers kept a comfortable lead throughout the set. Hoagland had four kills and Ulrich and Schwartz each added three in the first set in which Fort Hays State had a hitting percentage of .312.
Fort Hays State would fall behind at the start of the second set, trailing early by four at 9-5. Hileman came up to serve with the Tigers trailing 9-7 and proceeded to help the team rally off eight consecutive points to take a 15-9 advantage. Hoagland put down four kills during to lead the Tigers rally. Kills by Weinman and Hubert would push the lead to 18-10 before SAU would commit three consecutive errors to help extend the FHSU lead to 22-11. The Tigers would finish the set at 25-16 thanks to kills from Hoagland, Zoglman and Hubert.
The Tigers fell behind again during the third set but continued to battle, tying the set seven times before Southern Arkansas was able to pull away and take it at 25-21. The fifth set was another tight one, with the score being tied seven times, but the final one was at 10-10 before FHSU broke away and took control. Hoagland and junior
Megan Glandon each had three kills in the deciding set where the Tigers hit .219.
Fort Hays State moves to 6-3 on the year with the victories. They will be on the road next weekend (Sept. 16-17) at Pittsburg State on Friday and Missouri Western on Saturday.
