Emporia State moves onto regional final
By C.J. Moore
Originally published 09:56 p.m., November 22, 2008
Updated 09:56 p.m., November 22, 2008
Emporia State swept third-ranked West Texas A&M in the semifinal of the South Central Regional on Saturday night at White Auditorium, and the Hornets are onto the finals.
Emporia State will meet Truman on Sunday at 5 p.m. Emporia State is 2-0 against Truman this year, winning in four sets at home on Sept. 17 and five sets at Truman on Oct. 22.
The Bulldogs ended the Hornets season last year in the regional semifinals at Truman.
The top-seeded Hornets came back from a 5-1 deficit in the first set to win 28-26 in a set that saw 13 ties. The Hornets had an easier time in the second set, winning 25-17, and then won a back-and-forth final set 31-29 on Brittney Miller’s match-high 16th kill.
“I think it was good for us to play this tough of a game,” said Arica Shepard, who had 11 kills. “We know it's going to be a tough game tomorrow, and coming into today we knew it would be tough too. Even though we won in three, we learned things and tomorrow we need to do the same things.”
Ting Liu had a match-high 45 assists, and senior Hannah Carter had a match-high eight blocks.
Emporia State moves onto the regional final for the first time in school history. The ESU athletics department has agreed to purchase tickets for all ESU students for the regional final. Students will need to bring their Hornet ID to get swiped to get their free ticket.