Box Score PITTSBURG – The Pitt State Volleyball team gave fans a thriller in its home opener as the Gorillas took the No. 20 and undefeated Northwest Missouri team to five sets before eventually falling 19-17 in the final set to lose the match, 3-2 (22-25, 27-25, 25-20, 14-25, 19-17). 

Pitt State played well as a team. The Gorillas put up double figure kills in all but the third set and hit .225 as a team to a .173 for the Bearcats. The Gorillas had 12 more kills in the match overall and just made one more errors in 11 more attempts. In the final two sets alone, the Gorillas put down 25 kills, while only hitting six errors. Northwest Missouri tallied two more blocks than the Gorillas, 8.0 to 6.0 and also had two more service aces. 

Zoey Qi led four Gorillas in double figure kills with a season-high 18. Lauren Regier added 12, Magie Highberger, 11, and Peyton Walker, 10. Qi hit at a .400 clip for the match. Cal VanBuskirk led the Gorillas with 59 assists, a season-high. Ashlen Schwartz, Lauren Maisberger and Lauren Dunn were big defensively with 15 digs a piece. Maisberger and Schwartz also helped the offense with two service aces a piece. Taylor Wright also had double figure digs with 10 and had four big kills from the back row, including the game winner in set four. Regier and Taylor Unke each recorded three blocks, three assisted for Regier and two assisted and one solo for Unke. Walker also had two solo blocks. 

Pitt State opened the match with a 25-22 win in set one. The team took advantage of three straight attack errors by the Bearcats and a Qi kill to take a 10-6 lead. Northwest Missouri came back within one, but the Gorillas were able to hold on to the lead until a tie at 16-16. From there the teams traded points, but the lead didn't change until a Pitt State attack error gave Northwest its first lead since 6-5 at 19-18. Pitt State tied the set again at 20 and 21 before Lauren Regier put down a kill to give the Gorillas a 22-21 lead. The lead stretched to two points with a Highberger kill. A PSU service error gave the Bearcats their last point of the set before back-to-back kills by Highberger and Regier gave the Gorillas the first set win. 

Despite the 27-25 score of the second set, there were only seven ties and three lead changes. Northwest Missouri led early, but Pitt State tied it for the first time at 13-13. Northwest did not relinquish the lead until an attack error and a bad set by the Bearcats put Pitt State up 22-20. Following a timeout, that lead was extended once more on a Peyton Walker kill. The Bearcats scored the next two points, but Pitt State answered with a Qi kill for the first of several set points. Northwest Missouri fought off the first set point with a block by Sofia Schleppenbach and Maddy Bruder, then a Pitt State error ted the set at 24-24. A Gorilla ball handling error put the Bearcats back in the lead at 25-24. This time the Gorillas fought off the set point with a Walker kill. The Bearcats answered with a kill and a Pitt State error ended the set, 27-25. 

Northwest Missouri handled the third set, winning 25-20. PItt State did not lie down however and won the most lopsided set of the match by a score of 25-14. The Gorillas hit .344 in that set, while holding the Bearcats to a .056 attack percentage. 

The third set was about as even as it could have been. Defensively, each team had a block and nine digs. Each team had three hitting errors, the Gorillas just landed two fewer kills. In the set that was only supposed to go to 15, there were 12 ties, the most of any other set in the match. The two teams tied at every point to 6-6, and then again at 8-8 and 9-9 before Pitt State was able to build a three-point lead at 12-9 and force a Northwest Missouri time out. The Bearcats scored the first point out of the timeout, but the Gorillas quickly answered with a Qi kill. After another Northwest Missouri point, Lauren Dunn got a big kill out of the back row to force match point. The Bearcats battled back and tied the game once again at 14-14, then took the lead. Qi put down yet another kill to tie the set at 15-15. Much like earlier in the set, each time one team scored, the other was able to answer and there were ties again at 16 and 17 before the Bearcats were able to put together to consecutive kills to end the match.

Pitt State will play at home again tomorrow (October 1) at 3 p.m. against Missouri Western. The Griffons lost to Central Oklahoma, 3-0, on Friday night.