Griffon volleyball marches to MIAA semifinals, Northwest's season comes to an end
Nov. 16—It was a busy Thursday evening in downtown St. Joseph as the Civic Arena hosts the MIAA Volleyball Tournament Thursday through Saturday with 11 games being played in that time span.
The nightcap at the Civic Arena was between the No. 4 Missouri Western Griffons and the No. 5 Washburn Ichabods.
The Griffons were able to make it four straight wins against Washburn as Missouri Western won in four sets by set scores of 26-28, 25-21, 25-20, and 27-25.
Western would fall early 4-1 in the first set, but would rally to make it 12-9 with Taylor Russell contributing four kills early. This would come down to the wire however as Western faced a set point at 24-22. Washburn fired off six kills at the end to take it.
In set two, Western would flip the script and get out to an 8-4 start, but did fall behind 17-16 before a 3-0 Griffon run drew a timeout from the Ichabods. The set would be completed with another Russell kill, her tenth at that point.
Moving to set three, Western built an 11-6 lead and did not trail the entire set. Set four was a tight one as Washburn tied it at 14 after an 8-0 run, but the Griffons got it done down the stretch.
With the win Western advances to play No. 1 Central Missouri in the semifinals Friday night at 7:30 p.m.. Holly Heldt finished with 19 kills and 23 digs. Taylor Russell finished with 18 kills.
The second game of the day at the Civic Arena was the No. 12-ranked Nebraska-Kearney Lopers and the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats. Despite the late start, the contest didn't take long as the Lopers achieved a 3-0 sweep.
Nebraska-Kearney won by set scores of 25-20, 25-17 and 25-15.
Northwest jumped out to two early leads, 8-1 and 10-2, resulting in UNK head coach Rick Squires using both of his timeouts. The Lopers responded by going on a remarkable 17-3 run to take a 19-13 advantage. Northwest did fight back, getting within 20-18, but the Lopers were able to finish the set on a 5-2 run.
The second set featured seven ties, which kept the game locked at a 12 tie. Nebraska-Kearney would use another set of runs, this time a 7-1 spurt and a 13-5 run to end the set.
The Lopers would start the third set with a 13-11 lead, and closed the final set on a 15-4 run to take it the contest and to move onto the semifinal round against No. 7 Missouri Southern.
Northwest's Olivia Dir collected a team-high eight kills, while first-team all-MIAA pick Abby Brunssen contributed with seven kills and six blocks. Ella Caffery added a double-double with 23 assists and 10 digs. Honorable mention all-MIAA selection Kyah Luhring put up a team-high 15 digs.
Calvin Silvers can be reached at calvin.silvers@newspressnow.com.
