The Emporia State volleyball team’s pursuit of perfection is still intact — sort of.
The Hornets improved to 8-0 with two wins at the Midwestern State Invite on Saturday in Wichita Falls, Texas. But the Hornets dropped two sets over the weekend for the first time all season.
The Hornets finished the tournament on Saturday with a 3-0 win against Northwood and a 3-1 win over Central Oklahoma.
After sweeping Northwood, Emporia State opened against Central Oklahoma with a 25-18 win, but UCO became the second team to take a set from the Hornets, winning the second set 25-15.
Emporia State responded by blowing the Bronchos out in the final two sets, 25-13 and 25-12.
Brianne Boner led the Hornets in both games on Saturday. She had nine kills against Northwood and 16 against Central Oklahoma. She also had a season-high seven blocks against Central Oklahoma and had three blocks against Northwood.
Brittney Miller and Arica Shepard added eight kills apiece against Northwood. Ting Liu had 25 assists and Amy Byfield added a season-high 15 digs.
Shepard finished with her fifth double-double of the season against Central Oklahoma, going for 14 kills and 22 digs. Sophomore Megan Lueger had her first career double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs. Liu had a well-balanced game with 47 assists, seven digs, four blocks and four kills. Amy Byfield had 14 digs, and the Hornets had four service aces as a squad.
The Hornets travel to Newman University in Wichita on Thursday for their first in-state match of the season. Match time is set for 7 p.m.
Boner, Liu honored as players of week
The Hornets earned both of the MIAA player of the week honors for last week, as Boner earned the hitter of the week honor and Liu was named specialist of the week.
Boner racked up 49 kills for the tournament, becoming the second straight Hornet to win the weekly hitting honor after Shepard did it last week. Liu had 162 assists for the tourney, averaging 11.57 per set, and was named the setter on the All-Tournament team.
Hornets back
to No. 3
ESU moved back to No. 3 in the AVCA Top 25 poll released Monday, where the Hornets started the season before slipping to No. 4 last week.
The Hornets are behind Concordia-St. Paul, which remained in the top spot and received all 32 first-place votes, and California-San Bernardino. ESU’s fellow MIAA teams Washburn (sixth) and Central Missouri (eighth) are also in the top 10. Truman State is at No. 21 in this week’s poll, and Nebraska-Omaha debuted in the poll at No. 23. Pittsburg State dropped out of the poll.