Kansas City
Texas-Pan American
UMKC Volleyball Moves To 6-0 In WAC With Win Over Broncs
10/18/2014 3:26:00 PM | Volleyball
(Kansas City, Mo.) – After two high profile wins earlier in the week against Missouri and New Mexico State, the Missouri-Kansas City volleyball team (18-3, 6-0) did not suffer a let down on Saturday afternoon, taking down Texas-Pan American (5-15, 2-4) 3-0 at the UTPA Fieldhouse in Edinburg, Texas.
With the win, the 'Roos extend their school record win streak to 14 matches and maintain the top spot in the WAC standings. The 18 wins, meanwhile, ranks as the second most wins in school history, trailing only the 20 wins by the 1999 squad.
In the opening set, the 'Roos scored three of the first four points of the match, but the Broncs fought back to cut the lead to one at 5-4. UMKC answered with a rally of their own going on a 9-2 run, with a pair of kills from Skyler Muff and aces from Jessica Hendin and Kaylyn Brandt, to take a 16-6 lead. UTPA would add only four more points the rest of the way with the Kangaroos closing the set out with a kill and an ace from Crimmins and a dump kill from setter Nicole Wemhoff for the 25-10 win.
The 'Roos continued to roll in the second set, downing UTPA 25-18. UMKC held just a two point advantage at 6-4, but reeled off seven of the next eight points to build a 13-5 lead. UMKC went on to stretch the lead to as many as 11 at 19-8 after a second Hendin ace, before a pair of UTPA service errors gave the 'Roos their final two points.
In the final set, UMKC closed out the match with a 25-16 win. Once again the 'Roos built an early lead at 5-1, but UTPA scored the next four to tie the score. The set would remain close with the 'Roos holding just a one point advantage at 10-9 before scoring the next three points. From that point, UMKC would keep control of the set, as UTPA would get no closer and Muff notched back-to-back kills to end the match in favor of the Kangaroos.
The 'Roos were led offensively from the middle as Emma Hagedorn tallied nine kills, a .438 hitting percentage and six blocks and Melissa Hartsel recorded seven kills, a .467 hitting percentage and six blocks.
Crimmins, meanwhile, added seven kills, five blocks and 11 digs, while Taryn Miller and Jessica Hendin finished with 19 and 10 digs, respectively.
The Blue & Gold will be back in action again on Friday when they head to Chicago, Ill., to take on Chicago State at 7 p.m.
