The eighth-ranked Emporia State volleyball team swept Pittsburg State on the road on Friday.
The Hornets outhit the Gorillas .323 to .218 in the 25-17, 25-17 and 30-28 victory, winning in straight sets for the fourth straight match following their five-set loss to West Texas A&M last Friday.
The win keeps Emporia State (18-2, 5-1 MIAA) in the hunt for the MIAA championship. The Hornets are in third place behind Central Missouri and Nebraska-Omaha, but they join those two teams as the only one-loss conference teams.
The Hornets started out hitting the ball well, hitting .421 for the opening set. ESU used early runs to build a 10-6 advantage and the Gorillas didn’t get any closer than three points in the opening set.
In the second set, ESU jumped out to a 10-4 lead on three service aces by Katelyn Schmidtberger, and Pitt State would not get any closer than four points.
The Hornets had to come from behind in the final set, as the Gorillas jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Emporia State rallied to take an 8-7 lead and both teams traded leads. Pitt State rallied late to tie the set at 24. With the score tied at 28, Arica Shepard and Ting Liu gave the Hornets the win with two straight kills.
Shepard led the Hornets with 17 kills and 14 digs. Liu joined her with a double-double of her own, going for 39 assists and 15 digs.
Brittney Miller added 14 kills and was joined in double figures by Katelyn Schmidtberger, who had 10 kills. Liu and Jocelyn DeMotte both had two service aces. Amy Byfield led ESU with 18 digs and moved within two of the ESU career double-figure digs record.
Emporia State faces Missouri Southern today with first serve set for 2 p.m. from Joplin, Mo.