For the second time in a week, the Emporia State volleyball team found it difficult to play No. 5 Truman in its home gym.
The No. 15 Hornets fell 26-30, 30-26, 30-28, 30-27 to the Bulldogs on Friday night in the semifinals of the MIAA Tournament in Kirksville, Mo.
ESU lost 3-2 to Truman in its MIAA finale last Friday.
After falling behind 16-11 in Game One, the Hornets used a 7-1 run to gain the lead on their way to a 30-26 victory.
Truman took control after that.
The Bulldogs won the second game, 30-26, then rallied to take the crucial third game after falling behind 28-27.
Truman (33-5) scored the final three points of the game, all coming on attack errors by ESU.
After trailing early, the Hornets came back to tie the fourth game at 25 before the Bulldogs scored five of the last seven points.
Arica Shepard led ESU with 20 kills. It was the 14th time in her career she has notched at least 20 kills in a match.
Freshman Brittney Miller added 14 kills, and Megan Koster had 10.
Ting Liu distributed 63 assists, while Brianne Boner and Hannah Carter both had five solo blocks each.
ESU (26-8) will find out its pairing in the NCAA Tournament on Monday.
MIAA Tournament
Friday at Kirksville, Mo.
No. 15 ESU 30 26 28 27
No. 5 Truman 26 30 30 30
Time — 2:11. Att — 457.
Records — Emporia State 26-8, Truman 33-5.
Rossbach wins Regional runner of the year
Emporia State’s Jonel Rossbach has been named the NCAA Division II South Central Regional female cross country athlete of the year.
The award was given by the U.S. Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association on Thursday.
This year, Rossbach has had one of the most dominant cross country seasons in ESU history. She defended her MIAA Championship and has only been beaten by two runners all season.
The senior from Omaha, Neb., will attend the National meet next weekend after finishing second in the Regional meet. Rossbach was a half-second behind Abilene Christian’s Winrose Karunde.
Both runners beat the previous course record by more than 11 seconds.
“I am proud of the way Jonel competed for herself and the team at the Regional,” ESU cross country coach Dave Harris said. “She was disappointed with second, but she and Karunde were by far the best runners. Their competition was one of the best individual races I have ever seen in cross country.”
Rossbach was the first person to crack 17 minutes on the Jones Park course earlier this year, setting a record time of 16:55 in the ESU Invitational on Sept. 28. The previous course record was 17:22.
The only other time Rossbach was defeated was in the Bob Timmons Invitational in Lawrence on Sept. 1. Rossbach finished second behind Oral Roberts’ three-time conference champion Faithy Kamanglia.
Rossbach is a graduate of Burke High School in Omaha.