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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Lindsey Houran
Lindsey Houran
0
Emporia St. ESU 21-7,12-4 Mid-America Intercollegiate
3
Winner Central Okla. CentOK 27-4,12-4 Mid-America Intercollegiate
Emporia St. ESU
21-7,12-4 Mid-America Intercollegiate
0
Final
3
Central Okla. CentOK
27-4,12-4 Mid-America Intercollegiate
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Emporia St. ESU 31 18 21 (0)
Central Okla. CentOK 33 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

Bronchos Sweep Emporia State In MIAA Tournament

No. 8 UCO Advances to Friday's Semifinals With Win over No. 24 Hornets

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- Sydney Huck, Lari Migliorino and Mikiah Perdue keyed a first-set rally that gave Central Oklahoma a big opening win and the No. 8-ranked Bronchos went on to sweep No. 24 Emporia State in the MIAA Volleyball Championship quarterfinals Thursday night. 
 
UCO overcame a 24-22 deficit to pull out a thrilling 33-31 opening-set win as Huck, Migliorino and Perdue combined for nine kills in that closing stretch. The Bronchos never trailed in taking the second set 25-18 and ended the third set with a 9-2 run to polish off the sweep with a 25-21 victory. 
 
Fourth-seeded UCO improved to 27-4 in advancing to Friday's 7:30 p.m. semifinals against top-seeded and No. 3-ranked Nebraska-Kearney, with No. 7 seed Pittsburg State playing third-seeded Washburn at 5 p.m. The Lopers beat eighth-seed Fort Hays State 3-1, while PSU upset second-seeded and No. 16 Missouri Western 3-2 and the Ichabods eliminated sixth-seeded Central Missouri 3-1.  
 
"Winning that first set was huge," said head coach Edgar Miraku, whose team beat Emporia in five sets last week. "They had us on the ropes a little bit, but we hung in there and just kept fighting. That was a big momentum boost and we did a great job of keeping the pressure on them. 
 
"It was a big win and I'm proud of the team for the poise they showed. Now we have to get some rest and get ready for another tough one tomorrow." 
 
Perdue hit a sizzling .591 to lead the Bronchos, finishing with a match-high 16 kills and just three errors in 22 attacks. Huck and Migliorino added 14 kills apiece, with Huck moving into eighth place on UCO's career kills list with 1,410. 
 
Sawyer Franz and Riley Roberts added three kills apiece, with Roberts also contributing 14 digs and eight assists. Lindsey Houran handed out 38 assists to go along with 11 digs and Kaitlyn Parrott dug up 14 Emporia attacks. 
 
The first set was a classic back-and-forth battle that saw a myriad of big plays, with the Bronchos overcoming a 24-22 deficit to pull it out. 
 
UCO took a 19-17 lead when Perdue and Kedron Burk teamed up for a block, but the Hornets answered with four straight points to go ahead 21-19 and ESU went up 24-22 with a chance to serve for the set. 
 
The Bronchos refused to wilt, with back-to-back kills by Huck and Migliorino tying it at 24-all. UCO staved off set point three more times, then went ahead 28-27 on Perdue's smash at the net only to see Emporia score to make it 28-28. 
 
It was tied again at 29, 30 and 31 before the Bronchos finally prevailed. Migliorino's deep shot put UCO up 32-31 and an ESU attack error finally ended the marathon set. 
 
The Bronchos jumped on top quickly in the second set, jetting to a 6-0 lead as Huck had a kill and solo block. Two Migliorino kills helped make it a 10-3 advantage before ESU scored four straight to get within 10-7. 
 
Migliorino followed with a kill off an attempted block and service ace to push the lead to 12-7 and the Hornets never got closer than four the rest of the way. Perdue had five kills down the stretch and Huck scored UCO's final three points, including consecutive crosscourt kills to finish it off. 
 
Emporia grabbed a 7-3 lead in the third set, but the Bronchos reeled off four straight to tie it. Perdue started that surge with a deep shot down the middle, Roberts followed with an ace and Franz had back-to-back kills. 
 
UCO took its first lead at 10-9 on Migliorino's kill off a block attempt and it was 12-11 following a deep shot by the senior middle blocker. The Hornets came back with four unanswered points to go ahead 15-12 and led 19-16 before the Bronchos scored six straight points to surge in front 22-19. 
 
Roberts had a dump kill, Huck notched back-to-back scores -- with the second one coming off her dig of an ESU attack that fell in – and Houran served up an ace to highlight that spurt. The Hornets scored twice, but also committed two errors and Roberts added a kill down the middle to compete the comeback.
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