To be a good blocker, Brianne Boner says she has to be lucky.
If that’s the case, the Emporia State middle hitter had more than her share of good fortune in Game Three of the No. 21 Hornets’ 30-15, 30-12, 30-11 victory against Newman on Tuesday night.
“Blocking’s hard to do because you don’t have all the control,” Boner said. “You just have to hope they hit it at you.”
Boner’s arms seemed to be the target for most of the third game.
The freshman posted four block assists and one solo block in helping the Hornets to an 18-7 lead. At one point, she had successful blocks on three consecutive Newman attack attempts.
“It was momentum,” Boner said. “Once you get it, it keeps coming and coming.”
Boner also added four kills in the first 18 points of the game before being substituted out.
The match ended up looking just as simple for the rest of the Hornets, as they took on an overmatched Newman team in its first year competing at the Division-II level.
The Jets (2-28) came in having lost all 20 games they had played on the road.
“We knew what we were up against,” ESU outside hitter Arica Shepard said. “We didn’t let ourselves go down to their level, and we usually do that.”
Most of the match looked like a spike drill for Shepard, who pounded away at a Newman defense that didn’t have the size to block most of her attacks.
Shepard finished with a team-high 16 kills and a .429 attack percentage.
As a team, ESU hit .430.
“We’re No. 21 in the nation, and we need to play at that level,” ESU coach Bing Xu said. “Tonight, we did.”
The Hornets started off slowly, trying to quickly adjust to Newman’s style of play.
The two teams were tied at 9 in Game One before ESU went on a 9-1 run to take control.
Because the Jets played at a slower-paced tempo, the ESU blockers were off on their timing. After being taught to jump for a block when the ball was in the air, the Hornets were told by Xu instead to jump right when the Jets hitters were making contact.
ESU had just three team blocks in the first two games combined before posting seven in Game Three.
Boner had 12 kills in all with a .632 attack percentage, while Megan Koster added nine kills.
Ting Liu notched 41 assists, while Amy Byfield contributed a team-high 14 digs.
ESU (19-6, 6-2 MIAA) played for the first time in a week after defeating Northwest Missouri State on Oct. 9.
The Hornets play a pair of road matches against Missouri Southern and Pittsburg State this weekend.
Tuesday at White Auditorium
Newman 15 12 11
No. 21 ESU 30 30 30
Records — Newman 2-27, Emporia State 19-6.