Wildcats Battle with Missouri Valley, Fall at Home, 3-1

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Baker volleyball won a marathon third set to take visiting Missouri Valley to four sets before falling to the Vikings, 3-1 in a Heart of America Athletic Conference matchup on Tuesday night in Baldwin City.

The Vikings won the first two sets on scores of 25-15 and 25-21 before the Wildcats captured the third, 28-26 and battled to the end in the fourth set where MVC sealed the match with a 25-20 win.

Kierstyn Harmon and Emma Grossoehme each recorded a double-double in the contest with Harmon tallying 24 assists and 10 digs, while Grossoehme went for 13 assists and 14 digs. Kierra Hipple led the BU attack with 13 kills and Reese Kehl posted a team-high 21 digs.

Baker came out in the opening set and seized control early on with three straight attacks by Murray fueling the run. The Wildcats would go on to lead, 14-11 before the Vikings put together a devastating stretch, scoring 11 unanswered points and claiming all but one of the set's final 15 points to win the first set, 25-15.

The second set featured a back-and-forth with neither side gaining more than a two-point advantage until later in the frame. After Kennedy Bryan's ace gave Baker a 15-13 lead, MVC came back and used a 6-0 run to go on top. Another BU ace – this time from Dana Nichols – brought the Wildcats within one, but the Vikings closed out the second to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Wildcats opened up the third set by winning the first five points to force a quick MVC timeout with Hipple connecting on a couple kills for BU. After building up a slight cushion, the Wildcats saw their lead get erased once again with the Vikings drawing things even midway through the set. An attack by Hipple gave the Wildcats set point at 24-22, but MVC came back to force the set into extra points where Baker won three exciting points, including an emphatic block by Murray and Olivia Deichmann to push the match to a fourth set.

In the fourth, Baker once again was able to earn an early lead, going up 7-6 before the Vikings retook the lead on a 6-2 run. Trailing 16-11, the Wildcats used an ace by Murray and a kill by Hipple to get within two and stayed close for the rest of the way before the Vikings claimed the match on a 25-20 win in the fourth.

For Harmon, her team-high 24 dimes gives her a total of 375 assists on the year, while Grossoehme's marks pushed her over 350 assists (356) and 200 digs (202) for the season.

Baker returns to action on Friday, Oct. 27 for its final home match of the season as the Wildcats take on conference rival MidAmerica Nazarene on Senior Night at 7 p.m. inside the Collins Center.

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