The Missouri Western Griffons volleyball team fell in their first home and MIAA match of the season to the Fort Hays State Tigers 3-2 (19-25, 21-25, 28-26, 25-19 and 15-7). Kelli Sicner led the Griffons as she had a career high 21 kills and nine digs in the match.

With the loss the Griffons fall to 7-6 on the season and 0-1 in the MIAA. The Griffons came out on fire as they took the first sets by scores of 25-19 and the second match 25-21. In the first two sets the Griffons hit .220 with 21 kills and only eight errors. Sicner had seven kills through the first two set while Hannah Zimmerman had five.  

The Griffons would lose a seesaw battle in the third set by a score of 28-26. With that the Tigers took control winning the final two sets 25-19 and 15-7 improving to 4-9 overall and 1-0 in the MIAA. Allison Smith was the only other Griffon in double digit kills with a career high 12. Madison Benton finished the match with 46 set assists and ten digs.  

The Tigers were led by Lilian Rezende as she had 24 kills and 15 defensive digs. Rezende hit .367 in the match. Rebecca Maulbach was the only other Tiger in double digit kills with 10. Whitney Liggett had 32 set assists while Tracie Hileman had 20 digs.  

The Griffons will hit the road this weekend when they take on #3 Emporia State University on Friday, September 18 at 7:00 pm in Emporia, Kan.