The Emporia State volleyball team avenged their loss against Pittsburg State Friday night by sweeping the Missouri Southern Lions on Saturday night, 3-0. Along with the win, the match was highlighted by Senior Night festivities.

Game one was never really in question for the Hornets. Dominant offensive play set the tone early. Timeout was called by Missouri Southern at 17-12, advantage Hornets. Three more points would be added to the Hornets’ lead before another Lions timeout was called. The Hornets, similar to the first set versus Pittsburg State, had trouble finishing – this time, however the team finished the job by taking the set, 25-19.

Head Coach Bing Xu said that his team was ready for the match.

“I think tonight we prepared well, it was senior night and they were all pumped up and we were ready to go,” Xu said. “Someone comes here, they won’t give it to you. You have to earn it. It won’t be easy. Nothing’s easy.”

ESU came out firing in the second set, jumping out to a 4-1 lead. However, the Lions wouldn’t back down, cutting down the Hornets’ lead to one at 8-7. ESU would pull away from the Lions later in the game, forcing MSSU to call a timeout to regroup at 19-12. The Lions would only score once more in the set, as the Hornets would take a commanding lead in the match by winning set number two, 25-13.

Xu wanted the Hornets to play to their potential and meet the high expectations of the coaching, and even the fans.

“A lot of fans that come here want to enjoy the competition, so we told our girls that they need to come here and give that fight, show your attitude in front of all the fans and play a good game,” Xu said. “That’s what they need to do.”

Senior outside hitter and marketing major Arica Shepard believed that there definitely was a difference maker in why the Hornets we so dominant in this match as opposed to the Pittsburg State match.

“We were definitely a lot smoother today, which I think is the big difference from yesterday,” Shepard said. “When we all play smooth and play together, that is when we can dominate…not all of use are ever playing well at the same time. If we do that, we’re unstoppable.”

Several lead changes started the third and final set until the Hornets pulled away by two points at 6-4 – Missouri Southern called timeout. Emporia State would continue their show of dominance against the Lions, capitalizing on several mistakes on both offense and defense. After a failed attempt at a timeout by Missouri Southern, the Lions would score once more before losing the set on a Shepard kill, 25-18.

Shepard was the only player in double figures for ESU with 18 kills and 11 digs. Xu was happy with her performance.

“That’s the kind of game she is supposed to play,” Xu said. “Sometimes she gets so hyper and wants to kill, kill, kill. But you’re the number one hitter and everyone’s trying to stop you, trying to beat you – you have to be patient.”

Shepard, who was not pleased with her performance versus the Gorillas, said that she made a concerted effort to pick up her play for this match.

“I know last week it wasn’t my best week,” Shepard said. “I had quite a few more errors than I would like to have. I mean, that was my goal this year was to keep my hitting percent up by reducing my errors…this week I turned around and was like, ‘You know, I need to work on this again and not make so many mental errors.’ I feel like this week I definitely got back into the swing with my hitting.”

Junior outside hitter and nursing major Brittany Miller is using the loss against Pittsburg State as a learning experience.

“We can’t do anything about it, so we are learning from it,” Miller said. “Moving forward, we need to continue to work on pushing one point when we only have 24 – that happened yesterday (vs. Pittsburg State). We’re definitely taking every loss and learning from it.”

Shepard, along with the rest of the team, has high expectations for the defending MIAA Champions, who are currently 27-4.

“I expect us to be a lot more consistent in our play,” Shepard said.

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