TOPEKA — Bing Xu couldn’t explain it, really.
Just when his Emporia State volleyball team was on the verge of upsetting No. 7 Washburn on its home court Wednesday night, the squad lost its enthusiasm.
The lack of excitement came back to haunt ESU, as Washburn regained momentum to rally for a 30-17, 30-32, 25-30, 30-25, 15-6 victory at Lee Arena.
“Our emotions started dropping — even when we were leading,” Xu said. “Every point we got, there was no exciting cheer or going crazy.”
It all turned out to be pretty baffling for the coach.
At the time, the Hornets were leading two games to one. ESU also led Game Four, 10-6.
Still, Xu’s team didn’t play with the emotion he was looking for — especially with a chance to give ESU’s biggest rival just its second loss of the season.
“It was kind of going through the motions,” Xu said. “When you play a team like this, emotionally, you have to be on top. The more you bring yourself up emotionally, then your technique will follow.”
The Hornets struggled from that point on, dropping the next five points to lose their lead.
Washburn added a 4-0 run late to put the finishing touches on a 30-25 Game Four win that sent the match to a fifth game.
The Lady Blues dominated the final game from the start.
Washburn picked up its first two points on ESU serving errors, then posted a 5-0 run to take a 6-2 advantage.
The Lady Blues scored the last seven points of the match to finish off the 15-6 Game-Five win.
“They got a few blocks and a few momentum-builders, and it kind of kept going their way,” ESU freshman Brianne Boner said. “We couldn’t fight back.”
ESU already had battled back once before after Washburn dominated the first game, 30-17.
The Hornets trailed 15-11 in Game Two before starting their rally, scoring four in a row to tie it, then getting their final two points on a kill from Boner and an error by WU’s Caitlin Conley.
ESU fell behind 8-3 in Game Three but came from behind again, scoring the final five points to take a two-games-to-one lead.
“We just put it all on the line,” ESU freshman Brittney Miller said. “We knew we had nothing to lose.”
It wasn’t enough, though, as the Hornets never regained their focus after taking their 10-6 lead in Game Four.
“At that time, when you try to bring your emotion back, it’s too hard,” Xu said. “You have to keep the emotion high.”
Most of the success for ESU in Games Two and Three came from the freshmen Miller and Boner.
Through three games, the two had 13 kills apiece and combined for just five errors.
Miller finished with 17 kills and a .306 attack percentage, while Boner had 16 kills, a .429 percentage and five block assists.
“When they come on the court, they bring more energy — if nothing else, more energy,” Xu said. “That’s what we want to see from every single one of them.”
Washburn was led by its two All-Americans, as Monica Miesner had 20 kills and Tessa Jones added 15.
The loss snapped a six-match winning streak for ESU (13-5, 3-2 MIAA).
The Hornets will get another try at the Lady Blues on Oct. 30 at White Auditorium.
“Technically, I think we’re pretty even with them,” Boner said. “We’ve just got to get our emotions under control.”
Wednesday at Topeka
No. 23 Emporia State 17 32 30 25 6
No. 7 Washburn 30 30 25 30 15
Records — ESU 13-5, 3-2 MIAA; Washburn 19-1, 4-0 MIAA.
gregorymed (anonymous) says...
I am looking forward to seeing Paola's Brittany Miller play for coach schnieder and the lady hornets basketball team. She is a heck of an athlete to do both volleyball and basketball....and a great student to boot!
September 27, 2007 at 3:21 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )