Photo by Jordan Haiduk
Arica Shepard celebrates after scoring the final point to win the MIAA championship against Washburn Friday night at White Auditorium. Shepard had 12 kills, second on her team behind Brittney Miller’s 14 kills.
Arica Shepard couldn’t quit shaking.
Minutes earlier, Shepard had put the finishing spike on the first MIAA championship in Emporia State history in front of the largest crowd (2,432) to ever witness an MIAA volleyball match, and Shepard was shaking with excitement.
“It’s awesome,” she said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to accomplish since coming in here and just to do it, yeah, chills.”
Emporia State had two matches at White Auditorium to become outright champions — Friday night against Washburn and today against Fort Hays State. The Hornets didn’t want to wait until Saturday; they wanted the storybook finish, and they got it with a 3-0 sweep.
“Winning it on them was probably the best thing ever,” Hannah Carter said.
Last time the two teams met on Oct. 17 at Lee Arena in Topeka, the Hornets received a cold reception from the Lady Blues’ fans. They taunted and yelled obscenities throughout the match as the Hornets played intimidated in a 3-0 loss.
“Going in there at their place, we kind of embarrassed ourselves,” Shepard said
It was the worst match the Hornets had played all season. They left Topeka with tears in their eyes, but instead of forgetting about the match and moving on, they wanted to make sure they remembered. They hung a copy of the story about the game from the next day’s paper in their locker room as a reminder.
“We had revenge in our heads,” Brittney Miller said.
With a title on the line and the crowd on their side, the Hornets played confidently, while the Lady Blues played on their heels in the first game. After losing the first point of the match, Emporia State never trailed again in the first set. The Hornets used two 4-0 runs to build a lead and take the first game, 25-17.
Emporia State led through most of the second set until Washburn took a 19-18 lead by blocking a Shepard spike. Brittney Miller had a kill to tie the set at 21, and the Hornets scored five straight points. Megan Koster finished the set with two straight kills to send the Hornets into intermission with a 2-0 lead.
The Lady Blues gained the momentum for the first time in the third set when they took an 8-6 lead after Brianne Boner hit wide. Coach Bing Xu called a timeout and after a spirited huddle, the Hornets scored the next two points to pull even. The two teams traded leads in the final set, and there were 10 ties.
“We knew before the game it was going to be a tough match,” Xu said. “They were battling all three games, so we stood there and didn’t back off all game and kept fighting.”
After Carter’s match-high sixth block, the Hornets went ahead 24-23 and had their first match point. The two teams traded the next six points. Washburn tied the game but then the Hornets went ahead and were in position to end the match.
Finally, with ESU leading 27-26, Shepard had three chances for a kill to end the game on match point. Her third try was successful, falling in the middle of the Washburn defense as the record crowd erupted. With chants of “ESU!” ringing throughout White Auditorium, the Hornets accepted their first MIAA trophy in front of their rivals, who had a shot at tying for the conference title if the Hornets would have dropped their final two matches.
Photo by Jordan Haiduk
The Emporia Statae volleyball squad holds up the trophy after winning the MIAA championship title with a 3-0 sweep over Washburn Friday night at White auditorium.
“It’s great to prove to everybody that we are actually better than what we played down there,” Shepard said. “It makes it 10 times better to win in a sweep.”
With the win, White Auditorium becomes the likely destination for the NCAA South Central regional. Emporia State is ranked first in the region, and the top-ranked team gets to host. Washburn is ranked second and would have probably taken over the No. 1 ranking with a win on Friday night.
“It’s a big benefit to have it here as opposed to Washburn with their fans,” Shepard said.
Emporia State finishes its regular season today at home against Fort Hays State at 1 p.m. With a win, Emporia State’s next game will most likely be at White Auditorium on Friday in the first round of the regional.
“This is the first step,” Xu said. “We’ve won the conference and probably will host the regional, and that’s our next step.”
Notes
F Friday’s attendance of 2,432 was an MIAA record and the best attendance for a Division II volleyball game this season. It broke Emporia State’s record of 1,024, which was set on Oct. 30, 2007 in a win against Washburn.
F Emporia State became the fourth school to win an MIAA volleyball championship, joining Central Missouri, Truman and Washburn.
F Today’s match against Fort Hays State is senior day. ESU’s seniors are Megan Koster, Hannah Carter and Kristin Fletcher.
Comments
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Posted by madpoet (anonymous) on November 15, 2008 at 11:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great job! That it was against Washburn just puts the icing on their victory cake.
Posted by beth (anonymous) on November 17, 2008 at 12:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great job ladies and good luck this weekend as you host the regional in White Auditorium!
Posted by emporialifer (anonymous) on November 17, 2008 at 9:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Friday night's game was incredible. Those girls played their hearts out and showed they were truly champions. Congratulations ladies! I was so proud to be an Emporia fan watching the class that our program (coaches, players, fans, etc.) showed in this very competitive setting. Best of luck in Regional play coming up this week.
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