Emporia State volleyball drops match to Mo. Western; hornets lose Libero
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Monday, September 25, 2006
The Emporia State volleyball team just can’t seem to keep its little people healthy.
Libero Courtney Aguilar was the latest to go down with injury, and her absence was a major factor in ESU’s 30-21, 27-30, 30-25, 23-30 14-16 loss to Missouri Western on Saturday at White Auditorium.
The Hornets jumped out to a 2-games-to-1 lead before Aguilar left the match. Setter Kayla Nolte was already out with an injured toe.
With a short bench and few options, ESU coach Bing Xu was forced to go without a libero. The Hornets never recovered, dropping the next two games to the Griffons.
An Arica Shephard kill did tie the decisive fifth game at 14-all, but Western’s Melissa Malone registered a kill and then a service ace to end the match.
Five Hornets hit double figures in kills, led by Shepard and Mandy Chutskoff, who had 17 each.
Leah Griswold and Jennifer Remmereid both added 13 kills, while Hannah Carter notched 10.
Freshman Amy Byfield, in her second career start, had a match-high 48 assists.
ESU (9-9, 3-3 MIAA) will travel to Southwest Baptist on Tuesday.
ESU sweeps singles,
doubles championships
It would be hard to imagine a better weekend for the Emporia State tennis team at the NCAA Division II Wilson/ITA North Central Regional Championships in Topeka.
Marcela Bayon won six straight matches to take the singles title, and teammates Natalie Villaflor and Lacey Luina combined to win five straight to grab the doubles championship.
Not only that, but Villaflor/Luina had to face none other than Bayon and Karly Schultz in the final match, guaranteeing ESU a 1-2 finish in doubles.
“I was thrilled with the performance of both of our doubles teams getting to the finals," ESU coach John Cayton said.
Villaflor/Luina’s 8-5 victory solidified their spot at the 2006 ITA National Small College Championships in Fort Myers, Fla., Oct. 12-15.
Bayon also will attend after rallying in both her semifinals and finals matches. She defeated Mesa State’s Marina Bugaenco 4-6, 7-5, 10-8 in the championship to earn her invitation.