When Arica Shepard hit her final spike on Wednesday night, she let out a scream and then smiled.
The scream was out of relief. The smile was three years in the making.
“I’m on a high right now,” Shepard said.
No. 14 Emporia State beat No. 11 Truman State 3-1 in volleyball on Wednesday at White Auditorium for the first time since 2005.
Shepard and her teammates have had Truman on their minds all through the offseason and in the nonconference. Last year, the Hornets traveled to Truman for three straight weekends at the end of the season, and they lost all three, the final loss ending their season.
Shepard said on Monday that she wanted to “kick their butt,” and ESU coach Bing Xu said he could sense his team’s energy before the game.
“All the girls were pumped up,” he said.
The Hornets needed all the energy they could muster in the first game, when the score went back and forth with no team leading by more than two points.
Shepard had a kill to put ESU up 24-22 and at game point, but then Truman scored the next three points and was at game point. Xu called timeout and the Hornets responded by winning the next three points and the set, 27-25.
The Hornets struggled in game two and the Bulldogs rolled to a 25-18 win to tie the match at one set apiece.
“The second game, our energy level dropped completely,” Shepard said. “You could feel it probably on the sidelines too. We weren’t getting excited anymore. We got down by a couple points and it kept going like that. You can’t do that.”
At intermission, Xu told his team, “Let’s just go out there and do our job, don’t worry about anything else. Clear your mind and get rid of all the garbage.”
His message clearly worked, as the Hornets scored the first four points of the third game and cruised to a 25-14 win.
The Hornets carried the momentum into the fourth game, jumping out to a 3-1 lead. But the Bulldogs seemed to be at their best with their backs up against the wall. They pulled to within a tie four times in the final set, but never led.
The Hornets scored the final three points of the match and won 25-20 on Shepard’s spike.
“I just think we wanted it more today and we’ve been working hard, and I think we might be a better team than we were last year,” Shepard said. “I really think we are.”
The Hornets’ improvement could be attributed to the rise of sophomore Brittney Miller. The Bulldogs struggled to handle Miller’s powerful spikes, and she had a season-high 15 kills.
“She’s the one,” Xu said. “Last year we could see her athletic ability. This year I think in the beginning of the season we talked about her. She’s making huge progress right now. She’s going to bring a lot of attention from this conference. Every team before playoffs they will put her on target as the one to stop.”
The Hornets, who improved to 11-1, will also garner a lot of attention after this game. The Bulldogs won the MIAA in 2007 and spent much of the year ranked first in the country. They also were picked to finish first by the league coaches this season. Emporia State was picked to finish fifth.
Just before Shepard left White Arena on Wednesday night, she smiled one more time as she thought about the game she had waited so long for.
“They ended our season,” she said, “so it’s even sweeter.”
Shepard recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 18 kills and 22 digs for the Spartans, and Ting Liu had a season-high 52 assists.