KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Despite hitting a red-hot .351, 41 points better than its opponent, the Truman volleyball team dropped its 2016 regular-season finale at No. 23 Rockhurst on Saturday afternoon inside Mason-Halpin Field House.
The Bulldogs dropped to 15-16 overall and 12-6 in the GLVC while the Hawks improved to 26-5 on the year and 16-2 in league play. The Purple and White were led by
Jasmine Brown (19 kills, .425 hitting percentage),
Savvy Hughes (career-high 50 assists),
Bailey O'Drobinak (pictured/five blocks), and
Lauren Wacker (17 digs). Brown finished a ridiculous week in which she had 42 kills and just eight errors on 97 total attacks for a .351 hitting percentage.
O'Drobinak was the other Bulldog with double-figure kills at 14 and
not a single error on 19 swings for an absolutely absurd .737 hitting percentage. This match marked the sixth time in her career that she sent home at least 10 kills in a match and of the previous five times, her hitting percentage was never higher than .478.
The Breakdown
- In the first set, Rockhurst was ahead early, 7-2, before head coach Ben Briney called a timeout and rallied the troops.
- Truman then went on a 7-1 run of its own to take a one-point lead, 9-8.
- During that stretch alone, O'Drobinak had two kills while Kayla Bastian and Brown each had one.
- However, the Hawks fought back with a 6-1 spurt to go up four, 14-10, and never trailed the Bulldogs again.
- Before the end of that set, the visitors were able to cut the margin to one, 15-14, but never tied it up.
- The one set that Truman did win wasn't really that close when it was all said and done.
- That period saw an offensive display for the ages as the Bulldogs hit .519 to .517 by the Hawks.
- Combined for that set, the two teams had 33 kills and only four errors on 56 attempts (.518 hitting percentage).
- In the second set, Rockhurst began with the lead, 3-1, before Truman rattled off eight of the next 10 points and never looked back.
- After that, the Hawks were never closer than three when it was at 9-6.
- In the third set, neither team led by more than three through the first 25 points until the 26th point when Rockhurst scored to go up 15-11.
- Truman then called a timeout to gather itself, but was never able to get the score back to even.
- The fourth set was the tightest one of the day as it saw a combined eight ties and one lead change.
- The final deadlock came at 22-22 before the home team was responsible for the final three points, the set victory and a 3-1 match win.
Next up is the GLVC Tournament on Nov. 18-20 at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Illinois. The Bulldogs clinched the two seed in the West and will face Drury who's acting as the three seed in the East.
