Kansas City
Seattle University (Quarterfinals)
UMKC Upends Redhawks In WAC Quarterfinals
11/20/2015 12:14:00 AM | Volleyball
(Kansas City, Mo.) – No. 5 UMKC volleyball and No. 4 Seattle continued their rivalry on Thursday night, in the quarterfinals of the WAC Tournament, playing their third five set match in their last four meetings, with the 'Roos prevailing over the Redhawks by a 3-2 margin at the Swinney Recreation Center to advance to the WAC semifinals tomorrow night.
The win marks just the second ever conference tournament victory for the Kangaroos with the first coming in 1997 over Buffalo in the Mid-Con Tournament.
Madison Mosier led the UMKC attack in the win, tallying a career-high 20 kills, hitting .333 with a pair of blocks. On the outside, Jessica Hendin finished with 18 kills, 16 digs and a .317 hitting percentage for her team-best eighth double-double of the season. Sydney Crimmins, meanwhile, was the third 'Roo with double figure kills, notching 16 kills at a .323 clip, while adding four digs and three blocks.
With the win, UMKC improves to 15-12 on the season, while Seattle closes out the year with a 17-11 record.
In the opening set, UMKC fell behind by as many as four at 15-11 when UMKC Head Coach Christi Posey called a timeout to regroup the 'Roos. Out of the timeout, UMKC cut the lead to two on back-to-back kills from Meagan Kerns and Mosier. The lead would remain at two at 18-16, but four straight on kills from Kerns, Mosier and Crimmins and an SU error put UMKC in front for the first time at 20-18. The Redhawks would battle back to tie the score at 20-20, but an ace from Brianna Starr and two kills from Crimmins down the stretch, including the set ender, gave UMKC a 1-0 lead after the 25-22 win.
Seattle jumped out to a big lead early in set two, going ahead by as many as nine three times, including late at 21-12. The 'Roos would fight back to close to within three at 23-20 after back-to-back kills from Starr and Mosier, but SU would hang out for the wire-to-wire win to even the match at one set apiece heading into halftime with the 25-20 victory.
Coming out of the break, the 'Roos again fell behind at the midway point of the set, but the Kangaroos outside duo of Mosier and Hendin accounted for three kills each during a 7-1 rally that gave Kansas City a 19-17 advantage. Seattle came back to tie the score at 22-22, but kills from Crimmins and Taryn Miller, who found the back corner with a perfectly placed ball, and a set ending ace from Starr helped the 'Roos to a 25-22 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
In the fourth set, both teams battled back-and-forth with neither being able to gain more than a two point edge until the final points of the set when Seattle forced a fifth and deciding set with a 25-22 win.
In the deciding set, Hendin and Nicole Wemhoff helped the 'Roos to an early 4-0 lead, as Hendin notched two kills, including one off a Wemhoff assist, while the UMKC setter added an ace during the opening stretch. UMKC would go on to extend the lead to 11-3 after three kills from Starr and one each from Hendin, Mosier, Crimmins and Skyler Muff. The lead would remain at eight at 13-5 after Hendin and Crimmins both added another kill to their tallies, but a 6-0 run by the Redhawks brought Seattle all the way back to within two at 13-11. SU, though, was unable to complete the comeback as the 'Roos held on for a 15-12 win to pull off the upset over the Redhawks.
In the back row, Miller led the squad with 22 digs, while Wemhoff topped the team with a season-high 35 assists, nine digs and two aces and Kaylyn Brandt added 26 assists and eight digs.
Starr chipped in seven kills, seven digs, two aces and a block and Muff finished with five kills and a team-high four of the 'Roos seven total blocks. Kearns, meanwhile, recorded five kills and two blocks.
The Blue & Gold will look to advance to Saturday's final against the winner of No. 2 Bakersfield and No. 6 UTRGV when they face-off with top-seeded New Mexico State tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. in the SRC.
