Box Score

Sydney Huck

Mo. Southern St. MSSU 16-14,8-12 Mid-America Intercollegiate

Central Okla. CentOK 26-5,17-3 Mid-America Intercollegiate

Mo. Southern St. MSSU

16-14,8-12 Mid-America Intercollegiate

Final

Nov. 16, 2023

Central Okla. CentOK

26-5,17-3 Mid-America Intercollegiate

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Mo. Southern St. MSSU	17	25	25	25	(3)
Central Okla. CentOK	25	22	23	20	(1)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | 11/16/2023 2:33:00 PM

Lions Stun UCO In MIAA Opener

No. 2 Seed Central Oklahoma Upset In MIAA Volleyball Championship Quarterfinals

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Missouri Southern pulled off a shocking upset of No. 15-ranked Central Oklahoma in the opening round of the MIAA Volleyball Championship Thursday afternoon at Civic Arena.

The second-seeded Bronchos – who won both regular-season meetings between the two teams – claimed a 25-17 first-set victory, but the No. 7-seeded Lions roared back to take the next three 25-22, 25-23, 25-20 in securing the stunning victory.

The loss dropped UCO to 26-5 and Edgar Miraku's crew will have to wait and see if their season continues. The national tournament field will be announced Monday, with eight teams from each of eight regions advancing, and the Bronchos were fifth in this week's Central Region rankings.

"It's a tough loss," Miraku said. "We had plenty of chances in each of the last three sets, but made too many mistakes and just didn't get it done. Hopefully we get a chance to play again, which I definitely think we deserve based on what we've done this year."

Missouri Southern improved to 16-14 in moving into Friday's semifinals against either Nebraska-Kearney or Northwest Missouri. The finals are Saturday, with the champion earning the league's automatic berth into the national tournament.

Sydney Huck led the Bronchos with a season-high 21 kills and 18 digs, while Addison Wimmer had 13 kills. Lari Migliorino, Jenna Karp and Mallorie Koehn had nine kills apiece, with Migliorino hitting .450 for the match.

Jaedynn Evans dug up 30 attacks in another superlative defensive outing, with Katie Le adding 12. Lindsey Houran had 53 assists in directing the offense to go along with 15 digs.

Huck dominated in the first set win, knocking down six kills in nine attacks with no errors while adding six digs. Wimmer added four kills and Karp three.

UCO trailed most of the early going in the set before using a 4-0 run to turn a 7-6 deficit into a 10-7 lead in moving ahead to stay. It was a two-point lead at 18-16 when the Bronchos reeled off five unanswered points to gain separation.

Migliorino started that surge with a kill, Huck followed with back-to-back shots, Wimmer and Migliorino teamed up for a block and then Wimmer capped the spurt with a kill that made it 23-16 to end any suspense.

The Lions jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the second set and UCO battled from behind the whole way. Central led only twice, at 12-11 following a Wimmer kill and 13-12 after Houran's dump at the net.

MSSU went up 19-15 and was able to keep the Bronchos at bay the rest of the way to take the set and tie the match.

The Lions put UCO on the ropes with the tight third-set win, serving up seven aces in the two-point victory.

MSSU led 6-2 early and was up 13-7 when UCO went on a 12-4 run to go ahead. Huck had two kills and an ace, while Koehn and Migliorino added two kills apiece as the Bronchos took a 19-17 lead.

It was 21-19 after another Huck kill and she added another to tie it at 23-all, but the Lions scored the final two points to position themselves for the upset.

UCO looked like it was going to extend the match after taking a big lead in the fourth set only to see the Lions rally to end the match.

The Bronchos trailed 3-1, then scored five straight points to go ahead 6-3. Koehn had two kills and ace to help extend the advantage to 12-5 before MSSU started to steadily cut into the lead.

The Lions finally went ahead 18-17 and UCO wasn't able to come back.

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