The early season woes continued for Fort Hays State University on Saturday, as the Tigers dropped their final two matches of the Hawaii Invitational.
FHSU (0-4) fell to Lewis (1-2) in four sets, 3-1 (25-16, 25-22, 24-26, 25-19), and dropped a 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-19) contest against Hawaii Pacific (4-0).
FHSU spread out its offensive attack for the Lewis match, as five different players had at least six kills, led by Madison Scwartz’s nine. Jenna Ulrich and Taylor Mares were close behind with eight kills.
Kelsey Broadwell’s 20 assists were an early-season game high, and Makenzie Weinman had 13 digs (Schwartz and Sara Hewson each had eight).
FHSU would never lead in game one, tying it twice before the score sat at 8-8, but fell behind for good after that as Lewis went on runs of five, three and six unanswered points to close out the game, 25-16.
Weinman provided a spark on the defensive end during the first set, digging out five balls.
In game two, the Tigers would lead 1-0, but fall behind until late in the match, when a kill by Hewson (from Schwartz) knotted the score at 17-all. Schwartz would then re-tie the game at 21-21 with an ace, though FHSU couldn’t pull off the rally – as the Flyers’ outscored the Tigers, 4-1, to close out a 25-22 set victory.
Hewson had five kills in the second frame, while Schwartz and Rebekah Spainhour each had a solo block.
Down two games to zero, FHSU would fall behind in the third set 3-0, but storm back out to an 11-3 lead, holding strong until a Flyer rally at 20-14 closed the deficit to two (21-19). Lewis tied the match at 24-24, but a Spainhour kill and a Lewis error would give FHSU the set.
FHSU hit just .107 as a team in the third set, though the team limited Lewis to a .058 hitting percentage.
During the fourth frame, the Tigers hung tough until the score was 13-13, when Lewis would start pulling away gradually, using a 4-0 run to pull ahead for good, as the match ended on a kill at 25-19.
In the second game of the day, FHSU hit .264 as a team in the first frame, as Ulrich (four kills) and Spainhour (one kill) each hit .500. Defensively, Hewson had four kills and Ary notched seven assists.
FHSU fell behind early in the match, but would continually tie it up until taking a 12-10 lead on Schwartz’s kill. HPU would catch FHSU at 14, though, and close out the set on a 10-5 run to take the set, 25-19.
HPU took control in the second set with the score 10-5, going on a 9-1 run (including a span of six unanswered points) to take a 19-6 lead. The Sea Warriors would win the second game, 25-13.
The final game of the night saw FHSU lead (or hold a tie) 12-11 before a seven-point run would propel HPU to 18-12 lead. The Tigers would answer the run with a quick three-point rally of their own – eventually closing the deficit to four (22-18) – but couldn’t extend the match, losing 25-19.
In the HPU match, Ulrich led the team with 11 kills, followed by Schwartz’s eight. The setter, Ary, had 19 assists while five different Tigers had five digs (Schwartz, Hewson, Hoekman, Hubert and Weinman) in the contest.
FHSU has the day off tomorrow before traveling to Hilo, Hawaii on Monday for a matchup with Hawaii-Hilo. The game is slated for 7 p.m. HT / Midnight CT.
— FHSU Sports Information —