FHSU Athletics

Fort Hays State battled in its road match with Lindenwood, but ultimately fell, 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 29-27, 25-22) on Saturday afternoon in St. Charles, Mo.
 
The Tigers (7-9, 2-6 MIAA) were within three in all four sets, but couldn’t overcome a .152 hitting percentage over the four-set match.  Lindenwood hit .254 in the contest.
 
FHSU led for much of the first set, but fell behind late and couldn’t recover.  Leading 5-0 to start the match, FHSU held tough until 14-8, when an 8-2 LWU run tied the match at 16-all.  From there, the Tigers recovered to lead 18-16, but the Lions ralled with four straight, separating themselves enough for a 25-22 win.
 
The Tigers again started hot in the second frame, up 5-2 before stretching the lead to five (9-4 and 10-5).  Later on however, at 13-9, FHSU allowed a 10-2 by LWU that pushed the Lions into a 19-15 lead.  Fort Hays State, however, recovered with a run of its own (5-1) to tie the match at 20-all, and after back and forth play to 23-all, sealed the win on a kill from Mallory Flagor and a block assist from Taylor Mares and Rebecah Spainhour.
 
Tied 1-1 after the intermission, the third set proved to be a battle, though Lindenwood eventually grabbed the point in a win-by-two situation.  The Tigers did not lead until late (23-22), falling behind by as many as four (14-10) before rallying to tie it at 21-all.  Facing match point (24-23) a kill from Haley Corkill tied the match before see-saw action set the score at 27-27.  Two attack errors from the Tigers, however, gave LWU the set, 29-27.
 
Needing a fourth set win to continue the game, FHSU led by four (10-6) early on, but eventually saw LWU the match at 13.  Later on, trailing by three (19-16), Fort Hays State used a kill from Spainhour to start a 4-0 spurt that gave them a 20-19 lead.  LWU, however, ran off four straight of its own to take control, 23-20, and held on for a 25-22 win.
 
Flagor led the Tigers with 17 kills on the afternoon, nine ahead of Mares‘ eight kills, which was second highest for the squad. Libby Ary had 23 assists with five digs, while Crinin Conor had 11 assists and five digs.
 
All-around threat Sara Hewson had six kills and 9 digs, while Keanu Bradley dug up 19 attacks.

Callie Christensen had five blocks, leading the team at the net.
 
Fort Hays State is home next weekend for matches on Friday and Saturday versus Missouri Western (Oct. 10, 7 p.m.) and Northwest Missouri State (Oct. 11, 3 p.m.)