PITTSBURG – The Pitt State Volleyball team made quick work of earning its first home and MIAA win of the 2016 season on Friday (Oct. 7) night in John Lance Arena. The Gorillas defeated Southwest Baptist (3-16, 0-6 MIAA), 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-22).
The Gorillas are now 3-15 on the season and 1-5 in MIAA play. They will face rival Missouri Southern at 6 p.m. on Saturday, following PItt State's Homecoming football game.
Pitt State hit .213 for the match, while holding the Bearcats to a .051 attack percentage. The Gorillass recorded seven more kills (35-28) and tied a season-high with eight service aces. SBU did win the block battle by one, 4.0 to 3.0.
Taylor Unke led the Gorillas with a season-high nine kills and added one block assist. She hit an impressive .533 for the match. Maggie highberger added seven kills, while Noelle Dolley had six. Zoey Qi had five kills along with a solo block and a block assist. Cal VanBuskirk recorded 31 of the team's 35 assists. Taylor Wright had three of the team's eight services aces, while VanBuskirk added two. Ashlen Schwartz led the team with 17 digs.
Pitt State got down 3-0 to start the match, but rattled off four quick point behind Highberger's serve to take the lead. The Gorillas slowly crept ahead, but then went on a 6-0 on Qi's serve to go up 16-7. SBU answered the run with two points, but two Bearcat errors and a VanBuskirk ace gave the Gorillas' their first double digit lead of the match, 19-9. Southwest Baptist took a little 3-0 run late in the match to make the score 22-14, but three straight attack errors gave Pitt State the set, 25-14.
The Gorillas sailed through the second set. SBU wasn't allowed more the two consecutive points until late in the match when the Bearcats closed the Gorilla lead to three points, 20-17. The two teams traded points before the Gorillas used a Dooley kill and two Bearcat errors to close the second set, 25-19.
After an early 3-1 Gorilla lead, Southwest Baptist went on a 6-0 run to take a 7-3 lead. A kill by Dooley stopped the run. SBU scored one more before a three-point Pitt State run brought the Gorillas within one, 8-7. Southwest Baptist was able to keep ahold of the lead until another Gorilla run. A block by Highberger and Unke tied the match at 10-10 and two straight SBU errors put PSU up 12-10. The Gorillas were able to stretch their lead out to four points, 15-11, before SBU started to claw back. Runs of three and four points, only broke up by a single Pitt State point, gave the Bearcats the lead again at 18-16. With SBU leading 20-17, Pitt State scored five straight, including a Wright ace, to go up 22-20. The Bearcats cut the lead to one two more times before back-to-back Unke kills finally settled the match.
