ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - With the 2017 home opener and the return of Great Lakes Valley Conference play looming on Friday, the Truman State University volleyball team headed west for a nonconference tilt with Missouri Western State on Tuesday night. After dropping the second set to make the score 1-1 against the Griffons, the Bulldogs bounced back in sets three and four to take care of business and earn win No. 4.

Truman (4-6) and Missouri Western State (6-7) met for the 70th occasion in the all-time series, the Bulldogs lead that series 48-22 and have taken five of the last six meetings between the two squads. This time around, the Purple and White's offense was led by a trio of players with at least 10 kills including Sam Yancy (12), Jasmine Brown (11) and Jocelynn Livingston (10), while Savvy Hughes' 28 assists aided the attack. Defensively, Brown and Lauren Wacker each turned in 13 digs while Yancy registered 10. Above the net, Natalie Brimeyer and Holly Hildebrand blocked four attempts apiece.

The first set was the most back-and-forth between the two teams as it saw a combined 11 ties and three lead changes. Only once through the first 38 points scored did a team lead by more than two and that came when Missouri Western State led 13-10. However, that 38th point put the Bulldogs up two, 20-18, and that was the first point in a 6-1 run for the Purple and White that won them the set by six, 25-19.

Unlike the first, third and fourth sets, the second one was dominated by the Griffons. They won it 25-10 and hit a red-hot .310 in the process to just -.161 by the Bulldogs. The home team sent home 12 kills to just three errors on 29 total attacks as opposed to five kills and 10 errors on on 31 swings for the visitors.

The third set was another tightly-contested affair that saw seven deadlocks and four lead changes. After 34 points of play, neither team had led by more than two points throughout the set, but Truman led 18-16 and scored the next point to go up by three. From there until the end of the set, Missouri Western State slimmed the margin to one on two occasions including 19-18 and 23-22, before the Bulldogs won the set by three, 25-22.

The fourth set was a tale of two halves and in the first of those halves, the momentum was controlled by the hosts. The Griffons led by as many as six three different times early on including 12-6, 14-8 and 17-11 before the Bulldogs used their first timeout of the set. Out of the breather, Truman battled back and was eventually able to tie the match up at 21-21, the first deadlock since it had been 1-1. After Missouri Western State took the two-point advantage, 24-22, Truman rattled off the final four points for a 26-24 set victory and 3-1 match win.

Next up, as mentioned above, the Bulldogs will make their 2017 home debut on Friday with first serve against rival, Quincy, set for 7 p.m. inside Pershing Arena.

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