JOPLIN, Mo. (Oct. 27) – No. 17-ranked Central Oklahoma ran its winning streak to nine in a row with a sweep of pesky Missouri Southern Friday night.
The Bronchos came from behind in each set before claiming a 25-21, 25-19, 25-21 victory for their 15th sweep of the season. UCO improved to 22-3 overall and stayed tied with Central Missouri atop the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association standings at 13-2.
Coach Edgar Miraku's crew moves on the Warrensburg, Mo. Saturday for a 2 p.m. showdown against the Jennies, who beat the Bronchos in five sets in their first meeting this season.
"It was a tough match and we didn't play our best, but the team found a way to get it done," Miraku said. "Every match is hard in this conference, especially on the road, and we've got another big challenge ahead of us tomorrow."
Syndey Huck led UCO against the Lions, collecting 14 kills, 10 digs and three assisted blocks. Addison Wimmer knocked down 11 kills, while Lari Migliorino and Jenna Karp chipped in eight kills apiece.
Lindsey Houran handed out 40 assists to go along with 12 digs and Jaedynn Evans dug up 19 MSSU attacks from her libero position.
UCO trailed most of the way in the early going of the first set and was down 9-6 at one point. The Bronchos crawled to within one at 15-14 before reeling off seven unanswered points to seize the lead.
Houran started that spurt with a dump kill at the net, MSSU followed with an error and then Karp sandwiched a pair of kills around three straight by Wimmer to put UCO on top 21-15.
The Lions got to within 22-21, but Central closed it out with a 3-0 run as Wimmer had a kill while Huck and Migliorino teamed up for a block.
It was the same type scenario in the second set before the Bronchos again rallied. Karp had a kill and Mallorie Koehn back-to-back aces in a 4-0 run that turned a 9-9 tie into a 13-9 UCO lead.
Huck, Koehn and Migliorino had two kills apiece and Karp a solo block the rest of the way as the Bronchos went on to a six-point win in taking control of the match.
UCO trailed by as much as five in the third set and was down 14-10 before going on a 5-1 run to pull even at 15-all. Migliorino had two kills and combined with Wimmer on a block in that stretch.
It was deadlocked again at 16, 18 and 19 when the Bronchos finally went in front to stay. Wimmer's kills put UCO on top, then Migliorino followed with a kill and solo block to make it 22-19.
The Lions were within 23-21 when Huck finished it off, slamming down consecutive kills to cap off the third-set win and complete the sweep.
