Oct. 7, 2009 – The No. 21 Truman volleyball team had the 4th-ranked Central Missouri Jennies on the ropes Wednesday night, but the visiting Jennies escaped Kirksville with a five-set, 3-2 (20-25, 21-25, -18, 28-26, 15-12), win against the Bulldogs.
Senior right-side hitter Lauren Graybeal led the Bulldogs with 17 kills and committed just one error on 43 attacks for a .372 hitting percentage, and junior libero Casey Bruno anchored the Truman (15-8, 3-4 MIAA) back line with a career-high – and Truman 2009-high – 40 digs. However, UCM (20-3, 7-1 MIAA) out-hit the Bulldogs .180-.164 and held the home squad to a .130 percentage or lower in each of the final three sets to come back after Truman took a 2-0 lead in the match.
After surrendering game three following a two-set early lead, the Bulldogs appeared poised to end the match by rattling off a 3-0 late run and taking a 24-20 lead in the fourth set. From there, though, two straight kills from UCM and a pair of Bulldog hitting errors knotted the match at 24 apiece. A kill from freshman outside hitter Heather Hargadine gave Truman a lead again at 25-24, but it would be the final time Truman led on the evening, as UCM eventually won the fourth set, 28-26, before jumping out to a 6-3 lead in the fifth set and holding on for a three-point win.
Both Hargadine (12k ,25d) and junior outside hitter Allison Barker (12k, 18d) finished with a kill-dig double-double, while junior setter Ashley Petak notched an assist-dig double-double with 32 helpers and 20 digs. Bruno, Hargadine and Petak all finished at or above the 20+ dig mark, as Truman out-dug UCM by three on the evening.
The challenging week continues for the Bulldog spikers with a road trip to No. 15 Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday at 5 pm. Live stats will be available through a link on the Truman athletics Web site.