The Fort Hays State University volleyball team won its sixth straight match with a 3-1 (26-24, 25-22, 24-26, 28-26) victory over Southwest Baptist on Saturday afternoon inside the Gross Memorial Coliseum.
The Tigers (12-12, 3-7 MIAA) were led by Taylor Mares’ 22 kills – a career-high performance.
Libby Ary (34 assists) and Raegan Vanderplas (19 assists) appeared in the setter role in all four sets, and Makenzie Weinman’s 34 digs led the team.
In the front row, Mallory Flagor was second behind Mares with 14 kills, while Jenna Ulrich had six blocks, pushing her season total to 118.
SBU (14-10, 4-7 MIAA) hit .181 in the match, led by McKinley Chelsey’s 13 kills.
Down 11-5 in the first set, the Tigers stormed back with a 7-1 run to tie the match, 12-12. Included in that run was a stretch of four unanswered points. From there, SBU climbed back to a three-point lead (16-13), but the Tigers wouldn’t yield, tying the match at 16 and 17 before taking the lead until 24-all, setting up a win-by-two situation. A kill by Sara Hewson and a Bearcat ball handling error gave FHSU the set point, 26-24.
Set 2 of the night was close throughout, as the Tigers jumped ahead 2-0 to start the match and remained in control into a 10-10 tie. Later in the set, FHSU would trail by as many as four (17-13), but battled back to 19-19 on an Ary ace. Fort Hays State used a Bearcat error to gain the lead for good, closing out the set, 25-22 on Mares’ 10th kill of the night.
Out of intermission, FHSU led 1-0, but fell behind soon after, trailing by as many as three (9-6) until kills by Mallory Flagor, Hewson and Mares brought the teams square, 9-9. After trading points until 15-all, a four-point rally for SBU forced Fort Hays State to call a timeout. Down 22-18, a kill by Ulrich sparked a 5-0 Tiger run, propelling the Tigers to a 23-22 lead. SBU, though, recovered and took the set, 26-24.
Trailing by as many as six (16-10) in the fourth set, the Tigers slowly climbed back into the match. With SBU ahead 22-18, FHSU stormed back on a 7-2 run to take a 25-24 lead. With match point looming, the squads traded points to 26-25. Fort Hays State clinched the match when a long rally that saw the ball trade sides 11 times ended as an SBU attack landed outside the line.
The Tigers remain 11th in the MIAA standings, but are just one game back of Pittsburg State, which holds the No. 8 spot (the final qualifying position for the MIAA standings).
FHSU continues its home stand on Tuesday, Oct. 29 against No. 9 Nebraska-Kearney at 7 p.m. UNK defeated the Tigers, 3-0, earlier this season in Kearney, Neb.
— FHSU Sports Information —