LIBERTY, Mo. - After a tough 2-9 start to the 2016 season that saw the Truman volleyball team face a ranked opponent five times, the Bulldogs have been on a mission to get back to .500 and finish the regular season with some of their best volleyball. Since that ninth loss against then-No. 22 ranked Northwest Missouri State, Truman has gone 13-6 (11-4 in the GLVC) including Friday night's sweep at William Jewell.
With the win, the Bulldogs broke even at 15-15 overall, including seven games above .500 in league play, while the Cardinals fell to 11-20 on the season and 4-13 in the conference. For GLVC tournament scenarios, Truman can clinch the two seed in the West with a win at Rockhurst on Saturday, but do no worse than the three seed.
The Purple and White were led by
Jasmine Brown (pictured/13 kills),
Savvy Hughes (37 assists),
Natalie Brimeyer (four blocks), and
Claire Wandrey (18 digs). Aside from Brown,
Lacey Hill sent home 10 kills to just one error on 22 total attacks for a blistering hitting percentage of .409. That's the senior's highest clip while having at least 10 kills since Sept. 3 vs. Northern State (11 kills, .450).
In the first set, Truman was in complete control early on as it led 9-2 out of the gate and forced William Jewell to call a timeout. During that span, three Bulldogs each had a kill, but the Cardinals dug themselves in quite the hole with six errors. However, the home team answered with a 9-2 run of its own to knot things up at 11-11. After three ties with the final coming at 14-14, the Bulldogs rattled off four straight points to go back up by four, 18-14. Once again, though, the Cardinals didn't go quietly, and scored seven of the next nine points to pull ahead by one, 21-20. The visitors proceeded to score six of the final nine points to win the set and take a 1-0 match lead.
The second set was Truman's most complete effort of the night as it tallied 14 kills to just two errors on 43 swings for a .279 hitting percentage. Once again, the Bulldogs were up early, 5-1, and led the set throughout. Later in the action, William Jewell was able to tie things up twice (17-17 and 18-18), but never went ahead of its opponent. At one point, Truman led by as many as six and that was when the set had been clinched.
The third period was another tight one between the two teams, but again, it was all about the Bulldogs right away as they were ahead 10-3 to begin the period. Eventually, the Cardinals fought all the way back and were able to go ahead, 25-24, before Truman scored three-consecutive points to win the set by two and the match in straight sets.
Next up, Truman will travel to No. 23 Rockhurst on Saturday in the regular-season finale with first serve set for 3 p.m.
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