#18 Hornets Sting #3 Lopers in Maryville, 3-1

The 18th-ranked Emporia State Hornets hit .350 and won a close third set to beat No. 3 Nebraska Kearney (22-25, -20, -24, -17) Saturday evening in Maryville, Mo.

The Hornets (19-3) defeat the Lopers (21-2) for a third time in the last four meetings with this being a "non-con" match. UNK also saw its 21-match win streak, ninth longest in school history. end today.

The Lopers out hit the Hornets .411-.127 to win in straight sets Sept. 27 at Buckle Court. However, the script flipped today as E-State won the efficiency battle, .305-.196. Colorado Mesa hit .295 to sweep the Blue & Gold in the season-opener; no other Loper foe hit above .232 until today.

Emporia got big efforts from Slovenian outside Lavra Krizanic (17 kills, 13 digs & .958 serve receive pct.), Polish outside Maja Ciosek (17 kills; .341 pct.), and freshman reserve outside Jade Xu (10 kills; .421 pct.; seven blocks) to take the last three sets. In the third, UNK held leads of 20-17 and 21-19 before ESU closed on a 7-3 run. They had six kills in this stretch, three from Krizanic and two from Yu. The Hornets hit .474 (20-2-38) in the third with the Lopers at a solid .300 (17-5-40). Finally, in a match with 23 ties and four lead changes, E-State used a 6-0 run to break a 7-7 tie in the fourth.

UNK got another monster effort from Kansas junior right side Brynn Stowell (20 kills, .278 pct., & three block assists) with Dannebrog junior middle Sydney Davis (11 kills, .360 pct., two aces & two block assists) and Kansas junior outside Grace Schmedding (nine kills, 99 digs, 22 for 22 in serve receive) busy as well.

The Lopers return to MIAA play next weekend with road trips to Newman and Central Oklahoma.