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October 28, 2009-In another classic top ten battle in the MIAA, #9 Emporia State held on to defeat #4 Central Missouri 3-2 on Wednesday in White Auditorium. The win snapped the Jennies 18 match winning streak. The Hornets got a career high 18 kills and 18 digs from Katelyn Schmidtberger while All-American Ting Liu was close to a triple double with 54 assists, 13 digs and seven kills.
The first set was a back and forth affair with neither team taking more than a four point lead. ESU led 12-8 when UCM went on an 8-0 run to take a 16-12 lead on back to back kills by Paula Harris. The Hornets responded with an 8-4 run of their own to take a 20-18 lead on back to back blocks. Brianne Boner had assists on both points to become the ESU career leader in block assists. The Jennies came back with four points to retake the lead at 22-20 before the Hornets scored the final five points to take the first set 25-22.
ESU jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the second set only to see UCM have an 8-1 run of their own to tie the score at 9-9 and would push the lead to 12-9. The Hornets would come back to knot the score at 17-17 and 19-19 before ending the set with a 5-2 run capped by All-American Arica Shepard's kill.
After the intermission, ESU would take a 20-14 lead with the serve only to see UCM finish the match on an 11-3 run for a 25-23 victory.
In another set of runs, the Jennies opened the fourth set with a 7-1 run and led 10-3 to open the frame. The Hornets responded with an 11-2 run to go ahead 14-12 but the Jennies ended the frame with a 13-3 run to force the deciding fifth set.
Ting Liu staked ESU to a 3-0 lead on her serve to start the final set and the Hornets never trailed. UCM cut the lead to 8-7 on a block error by Boner but Liu gave ESU a two point cushion on her solo block of Jennifer Williams and that was as close as the Jennies would get.
Schmidtberger's 18 kills led four Hornets in double figures. Shepard, the five time MIAA Hitter of the Week, added 15 kills and 18 digs for her sixth straight double-double and added five blocks. Brittney Miller shook off a slow start to finish with 12 kills while Boner added 11 kills and six blocks. Amy Byfield had a team high 23 digs for ESU who held UCM, the top hitting team in the MIAA entering the match to just .128 hitting.
Allie Huffman had 13 kills to lead the Jennies while Caitlin Pankratz had 45 assists and 13 digs. Rachel Fisher had a match high 28 digs.
With the win ESU moves into a first place tie with UCM in the MIAA, with both teams winning on their home floor. The Hornets are back in action on Saturday when they travel to #16 Neb.-Omaha. First serve on Halloween in Omaha is set for 4 p.m.
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