WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Kaitlyn Parrott served up two of her career-high five aces in a big third-set comeback that catapulted Central Oklahoma to a key MIAA road win over Central Missouri Friday night.
The No. 7-ranked Bronchos got off to a slow start in dropping the first set 25-12 before taking the second set 25-19 to tie the match. The Jennies jumped on top 7-0 in the third set, but UCO rallied for a 25-17 win and then claimed a 25-16 victory to close it out.
"I'm just really proud of our team for the way they stayed together after the start we had," head coach Edgar Miraku said. "We didn't get down on ourselves and fought our way back against a really good team that beat us at our place.
"We showed a lot of resilience tonight and they just refused to lose. It's a huge win for us, but we have to move on and get ready for another tough match tomorrow."
The Bronchos avenged a four-set home loss to UCM on Oct. 4 with the come-from-behind triumph, improving to 22-3 overall and 8-3 in the league. UCO moves on to Joplin, Mo. Tomorrow to face Missouri Southern at 2 p.m.
Mikiah Perdue led UCO offensively, hitting .474 with 11 kills and two errors in 19 attacks. Sawyer Franz knocked down eight kills and Lari Migliorino had seven kills while also coming up big at the net with six blocks (two solo, four assisted).
Sydney Huck, Myla Unterweger and Riley Roberts chipped in five kills apiece, with Roberts adding 14 digs and three blocks (two assisted, one solo).
Lindsey Houran had another masterful all-around outing with 35 assists, 12 digs, four kills and four aces. Parrott had one ace in the second set and two each in the third and fourth sets to finish with her career-high five while also contributing a match-high 16 digs.
UCO fell behind 5-0 in the first set and never recovered as the Jennies rolled to an easy win, but the Bronchos answered back in resounding fashion.
Three straight Central Missouri errors and Roberts' solo block broke a 3-3 tie in the second set to put UCO on top to stay. It was still a four-point lead at 11-7 when back-to-back kills by Franz and Huck made it 13-7, then the Bronchos got two aces from Parrott and another from Houran in pulling away from there.
The Jennies bolted to a quick 7-0 lead in the third set before consecutive kills by Perdue, Migliorino and Unterweger started UCO's comeback. The Bronchos were within three at 15-12 when two Parrott aces sparked a 5-0 run that put the Bronchos on top 17-15.
Central Missouri scored the next two points to tie it, but it was all UCO after that. The Bronchos scored the final eight points to silence the home crowd as Migliorino teamed with Roberts for two blocks and Unterweger for another while Houran had a kill and ace.
The fourth set was tied 3-3 when Perdue slammed down three kills in a 7-3 run to put UCO on top 10-5. The Jennies couldn't respond and Parrott had two more aces down the stretch to finish off the match.
