Freshman Abby Heise’s career evening, coupled with 18 kills apiece from senior Megan Sharpe and sophomore Allie Brak, propelled the 20th-ranked Truman volleyball squad to a 3-1 (-12, 22-25, 26-24, -22) win against Central Oklahoma on Saturday night in Pershing Arena.
Heise put down a career-best 14 kills on 24 swings with no errors for a .583 attack line to give the Bulldogs their 12th-straight victory. That matches the program’s longest unblemished streak since a 12-0 stretch from Oct. 25 – Dec. 4, 2008.
The Bulldogs (21-4, 9-2 MIAA) cruised to a 25-12 first set win against the Bronchos (11-12, 6-6 MIAA), who entered the match riding a six-match unbeaten streak of their own. However, UCO recovered in the second, hitting a robust .419 to even the match with a 25-22 victory.
The third set featured 11 ties and six lead changes, all building to a 24-23 UCO lead on set point. Sophomore Meghan Zimmerman found space on the second touch and tied it with a kill, before Heise went back-to-back for two straight kills and a 26-24 Bulldog win to go ahead 2-1.
The Bulldogs trailed 16-13 in the fourth set before rattling off seven of the next eight points to take a 20-17 advantage. UCO would again draw close at 20-19, but the Bulldogs used a blistering fourth set (seven kills, .400%) from Brak for two more points before eventually closing out the match with a 25-22 set win.
The trio of Sharpe, Heise and Brak took turns carrying the offensive load, as Sharpe and Brak put away five kills each in the first set; Sharpe put down six in the second; Heise recorded seven and hit .778 in the third, and Brak’s seven paced the squad in the fourth.
Ali Patterson added eight kills of her own, with senior Emily Briseno (6) and Zimmerman (5) rounding out the top contributors.
Zimmerman finished with a match-high 54 assists, coupling them with 13 digs for her 15th double-double of 2012, while Brak led the squad defensively with 15 digs – marking her 10th double-double of the year. The Bulldogs served efficiently, dealing six aces to go with just three errors, while siding-out at a 65% clip in the match. Briseno’s five blocks led all Bulldogs, with UCO out-blocking the ’Dogs 11-7.
UCO’s Morgan Roy, the MIAA’s leader in kills per set entering the match, started slowly but ended with a team-high 15 kills on a .196 attack line. Tate Hardaker finished the night with a match-high 24 digs, with Juliette Smith and Vanessa Gomes adding six blocks each.
The Bulldogs kick off a two-match slate next week with a Tuesday night home contest against Lindenwood. The Lions dropped a 3-1 decision to Pittsburg State on Saturday night to fall to 13-11 overall (3-7 MIAA) on the season.
Courtesy Truman State University
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