FHSU Athletics
OKLAHOMA CITY – Fort Hays State moved to 3-1 on the season by posting a pair of three-set sweeps of Westminster College and Southwest Baptist on Saturday at the Eagle Classic, hosted by Oklahoma Christian University.
Gracie Rains led the Tigers in kills for the day with 27, followed by Riley Tinder with 19. Tinder notched a team-best 25 digs over the two matches, followed by Jaden Daffer with 22. Elysia Glowacz tallied 41 assists for the day. Mykah Eshbaugh finished the day without an error offensively with 12 kills on 31 attempts.
Fort Hays State 3, Westminster College 0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-20)
A 7-1 run by the Tigers that included a pair of service aces by Jaida Felix turned an early 4-1 deficit into an 8-5 lead in the first set. Jaden Daffer provided a pair of service aces later in the set during a 4-0 run to give the Tigers a 14-9 cushion. The Tigers went on to claim the set 25-21 as Riley Tinder provided three kills with four digs.
The Tigers scored the first three points of the second set and cruised to a 25-17 win. Gracie Rains put down a team-best five kills, part of 13 as a team within the set. Tinder added seven digs in the frame, moving into double digits for the match.
Rains remained hot in the third set by adding seven more kills to help the Tigers to a 25-20 third set win and sweep of the match. Tinder remained steady on offense throughout the contest and finished with nine kills after putting down three in each set. She nearly had a double-double for the match after finishing with a team-best 16 digs for the match. Daffer was the only other Tiger to reach double figures in digs with 12 as the team finished with 51 opposed to just 32 by the Griffins.
The Tigers grew stronger offensively as the match progressed. They hit just .100 as a team in the first set, but followed with a .222 clip in the second and .333 in the third. They produced 17 kills in the third set and finished with a .214 hitting percentage overall, while limiting Westminster to just a .178 mark. Mykah Eshbaugh was errorless for the match with seven kills on 16 attempts (.438) and Emily Ellis hit .385 with six kills and just one error on 13 attempts. Elysia Glowacz had 21 assists and Felix added 14.
Fort Hays State 3, Southwest Baptist 0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-17)
After the first set went back and forth seeing the score tied a few times to the point of 11-11. The Tigers worked their way in front to a 14-11 lead and then eventually used a 5-0 run to build a 21-14 lead. Southwest Baptist committed four straight attacking errors to allow the Tigers to take control. FHSU went on to win the set 25-16. Caiya Stucky, Gracie Rains, and Riley Tinder all had three kills in the set and helped the team hit .303 in the opening frame.
The Tigers started the second set on fire by scoring the first seven points, all on a service rally by Tinder. However, the Bearcats made a burst of their own with a 6-0 run to get back within one at 9-8. But the trend of big runs continued as the Tigers went on another 7-0 run to push their lead to 16-8. The lead eventually reached 11 at 23-14 and the Tigers went on to win the set by that margin, 25-14. Rains had four kills in the set, while Mykah Eshbaugh and Tinder each put down three. The Tigers were a smidge more efficient than their first set, hitting .355 in the second frame and holding SBU to a -.026 mark. SBU was hitting .000 for the match at that point with 19 kills and 19 errors.
The Tigers went on to complete their second straight three-set sweep on Saturday by winning the third set 25-17. Another 7-0 burst in the latter stages of the set helped put the match away. Rains put down six kills in the set, while Tinder added four. Rains finished with a team-high 13 overall and hit a blistering .500 for the match with just two errors. Tinder also reached double figures with 10, while being just one dig short of a double-double with nine.
Elysia Glowacz distributed 20 assists for the Tigers, followed by Jaida Felix with 10. Jaden Daffer had a team-high 10 digs, followed by Brooke Hyland with eight.
Eshbaugh finished the day errorless as she put down five kills on 15 attempts. She also had a team-best six blocks in the match, followed by Morgan Christiansen and Emily Ellis in that category, each with five.
The Tigers hit .260 as a team in the match, their best effort so far this season. They kept the Bearcats right on that .000 hitting percentage (28 kills, 28 errors), also a best against an opponent so far this season.
The Tigers will play four more matches next weekend at the Denton Volleyfest in Denton, Texas. FHSU will face three Great American Conference teams and one Lone Star Conference team in that tournament.