HAYS, Kan. - The Pittsburg State University volleyball team suffered a five set defeat on the road in MIAA play against the Fort Hays State University Tigers on Friday (Sept. 25) at Gross Memorial Coliseum.Â
FHSU (11-5, 1-2 MIAA) claimed the match with set scores of 24-26, 26-24, 25-17, 21-25, 15-12. As a team, the Tigers held a slim advantage over the Gorillas (11-3, 0-2 MIAA) for hitting percentage (.259 - .255) and kills (85-55).
Kennedy Behnke collected her second 10+ total block performance of her career, with the sophomore middle blocker adding three kills to account for 8.5 points.
Crystal Smith led the team with 19.5 points from a team-high 15 kills to go with seven assisted blocks and a service ace.
Maddi LaPointe (14) and
Mason Palace (11) were the other members of the team to finish with double-digit kills in the match.
Jesa Wallace (25) and
Brynna Zoeller (24) split setting duties while
Kassidy Nixon finished with a team-high nine digs. Wallace, Zoeller,
Vix Vilott and
Alexis Bittner all finished with seven digs.
For Fort Hays, Annie Eaton finished with a match-high 70 assists while Ella Goodwin (22), Peyton Bergschneider (19), Mylie Brown (15) and Ashlyn Reeves (14) finished with double figure kill tallies.
Up next for the Gorillas will be the No. 7 University of Nebraska - Kearney Lopers on Saturday (Sept. 26) at 6:00 p.m. (CT) inside the Health & Sports Center. UNK is 14-1, 3-0 MIAA on the season and have not lost a set in 42-consecutive sets since falling in their season opener (3-0) against Colorado Mesa (Aug. 27).Â
