Emporia State volleyball coach Bing Xu called one time out on Tuesday night, and really only had one point to make to his team the whole night.
The ninth-ranked Hornets cruised to a sweep of Southwest Baptist — 25-17, 25-21, 25-11 — and maybe finally learned a lesson that Xu has been trying to emphasize all season.
If the Hornets have a flaw, it’s their lack of communication. It’s the reason they lost last Friday to Pittsburg State, and it was the reason they let SBU rally from a 5-0 deficit in the second set to tie the set at 5.
Xu called time out and told his team four of the Bearcats’ five points had come because of communication errors, and they had to start talking.
“Apparently it’s been an issue the past couple games,” senior Arica Shepard said. “I don’t know why. I think after he yelled at us a little bit, which is a rare occasion, we got the message and I don’t think we had very many after that.”
Other than the one lapse in communication in the second set, the Hornets dominated a lesser foe as usual. They held the Bearcats to an .095 hitting percentage. ESU had a balanced offensive attack with Britteny Miller leading the way with 12 kills, followed by Shepard with 11. Ting Liu had eight kills, 28 assists and seven digs.
The Hornets won in straight sets for the 19th time this season and the 10th straight time against an unranked opponent.
Emporia State’s focus in the final few matches against unranked competition is fixing any problems before Regionals start next week.
“We know what we should do and what we should work on,” setter Ting Liu said. “We just need to do it.”
The Hornets also wanted to have a proper sendoff for their three seniors — Shepard, Amy Byfield and Jenna Snook. Tuesday was the final home game for the three seniors.
Shepard was her usual self, hitting .360 hitting and also getting a double-double with a team-best 15 digs. She also had a team-best three aces. One of her aces hit off the net and fell in, which drew a big smile from the senior star.
“This whole year I’ve been trying to enjoy my last year,” Shepard said. “I wanted to not have any regrets, although there have been some, but for the most part, I want to have no regrets and look back on my senior year and make it my best year yet.”
Whether Shepard has her best year ever will depend entirely on how the Hornets perform in the next few weeks. They have a big match at Washburn on Friday, which could decide the battle for second place in the MIAA and could have Regional ranking implications.
If Central Missouri loses at Nebraska-Omaha on Friday, the Hornets could still tie for the conference title.
Beating Washburn is important for Shepard, but the Regional is where the Hornets are putting most of their emphasis. They have been close to winning the Regional — losing in the championship last season to Truman — but they have yet to make the National tournament, and that has been a goal for the senior class.
To make it, they need to fix any problems — such as a lack of communication — and they made strides against SBU.
“I think we redeemed ourselves Saturday and then today after that loss on Friday,” Shepard said. “So hopefully we carry it over to this weekend’s games. Momentum going into Regionals is huge. If we can get two more wins coming in, hopefully we’ll be in a really good place.”
Shepard named MIAA Hitter of the Week
Shepard earned her sixth MIAA Hitter of the Week award this season for her performance in two matches last week.
It is believed to be the most Athlete of the Week awards for one player since 1994 when Central Missouri's Rachel Gatewood won the MIAA Specialist of the Week six times.
Shepard averaged 4.71 kills per set and hit .375 in matches against No. 22 Pittsburg State and Missouri Southern over the weekend. Against Pitt State, Shepard had 15 kills and tied a career high with a team-high 24 digs.
Shepard had 18 kills to go along with 11 digs for her ninth straight double-double on Saturday in a 3-0 win against Missouri Southern.
Shepard also continued to her ascent in the school and conference record books. She moved into the ESU career top five in digs. She moved into fourth place in the MIAA in career kills, passing Missouri Southern’s Stephanie Gockley. Shepard is the first player to climb that high in the all-time MIAA standings since 1997. She is already the ESU career record holder in kills, double-figure kill matches and 20-plus kill matches.