November 23, 2008-The #8 Truman Bulldogs used a dominating performance at the net in a 25-15, 25-14, 25-18 victory over #5 Emporia State in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Volleyball Championship match.  The Bulldogs outblocked the Hornets 12.0 - 3.0 and held ESU to -.044 hitting in the three set sweep.

Allie Cherven had a match high 11 kills for TSU as ESU saw it's 19 match home court winning streak come to an end in front of a crowd of 2,105 in White Auditorium.  ESU was led by Hannah Carter with nine kills.

Both teams came out slowly with service errors accounting for five of the first eight points.  With the score tied at 4-4 Truman would go on a 5-0 run to take a 9-4 lead.  The Bulldogs had just one kill and one block during the run as ESU failed to set two points and had an attack error. Another 5-0 run would push the lead to 20-11 and ESU never recovered in the first set.
The second set was also tied at 4-4 when TSU went on a 10-1 run, fueled by kills from Lauren Graybeal, Allie Cherven and Dana Hanselmann and blocks by Cherven and Graybeal.

The score was tied at 8 in the third set when Truman took control with a 7-1 run as Lisa Weber was in on three block assists. The Hornets trailed 21-12 before going on a 5-2 run of their own to pull within 23-17.  Hannah Carter had a block assist and a kill during the run. After a TSU timeout, Dan Hanselmann had a kill for the first championship point.  After a Hanselmann service error, Eli Medina sent the Bulldogs to the Elite Eight with a kill on the second match point.

The Bulldogs will take on Nova Southeastern in the Elite Eight on Dec. 4 at location yet to be determined.

NOTES:

All-Tournament Team:Klaudia Grelowska, Pittsburg State; Allie Huffman, Central Missouri; Paula Harris, Central Missouri; Natalie Johnson, West Texas A&M; Laura Prinsen, West Texas A&M; Arica Shepard, Emporia State; Brittney Miller, Emporia State; Ting Liu, Emporia State; Allie Chevren, Truman; Lauren Graybeal, Truman; Eli Medina, Truman; Melissa Keck, Truman.

The tournament drew a total of 6,649 fans for the seven matches and was the best attended of the eight NCAA Division II Volleyball Regionals.

This will be Truman's fifth trip to the Elite Eight since 2001.

This is the third straight year TSU has ended ESU’s season.  They eliminated the Hornets in the MIAA Tournament semifinals in 2006 and in the regional semifinals in 2007.