Baker Volleyball Battles to Hard-Fought Sweep of Peru State

BALDWIN CITY - Baker volleyball continued its recent home tear, posting a 3-0 sweep of Peru State on Tuesday night in the Collins Center for the Wildcats' fourth straight home win.

Despite the sweep, the Bobcats made BU earn its victory with three hard-fought sets that were all within at least four points of each other. The Wildcats came back to win set one, 26-24, before pulling off another two-point victory in the second (25-23) and securing the sweep with a 25-21 win in the third.

The Wildcats hit over .200 as a team and collected eight aces with setter Taryn Dial tallying three points from the service line. Kylie Murray recorded a season-high 16 kills, while hitting a blistering .467. Dial added 22 assists and eight digs to her line, while Reese Kehl totaled a match-high 19 digs.

Baker looked to be in control early in set one with a string of five consecutive points during Kohanihokuao Misipeka's serve, including a couple of aces from the sophomore attacker. An ace from Aby Widhalm made it an 11-6 lead for BU before the Bobcats worked their way back and took their first lead at 13-12.

Three kills from Murray pushed the Wildcats back in front by three, but Peru State reclaimed the lead and eventually held set point before a kill from Brie Reedy and back-to-back attacks from Misipeka saw BU steal the opening set, 26-24.

The second set featured more back-and-forth between the two conference teams, with Baker once again holding on to an early lead. The Bobcats used a 7-0 run to jump in front and led by five at 15-10 before the Wildcats responded with an 8-3 stretch that knotted the frame at 18-all.

The two sides traded points down the stretch until BU was able to rattle off three straight to come out of another tough battle in the second, 25-23. Murray had two straight kills and then teamed up with Reedy on set point to block the PSC attack and give the 'Cats a 2-0 lead.

Miranda Kuntz opened up the third set with a dump to give the first points to the Wildcats, who never trailed in the frame. BU kept the lead around three points until a decisive 7-1 run ballooned the lead up to seven points with an ace from Kate Reese, making the score 19-12.

Four different Wildcats registered attacks to close out the night, with Murray, Widhalm, and Reedy all earning kills before Misipeka capped the night with back-to-back winners to finish off the conference sweep.

It was the second time in the past three home matches that the Wildcats were able to secure a sweep after a 3-0 victory over Clarke on Sept. 26. It was their fourth overall sweep of the season, with a pair of sweeps during non-conference play over Tabor (Aug. 22) and UHSP (Aug. 30).

The Wildcats improve to 12-6 on the season and 6-4 in conference play, sitting sixth in the Heart standings after Tuesday's action. They return to the Collins Center on Friday, Oct. 10, to take on Graceland with first serve set for 6 p.m. in Baldwin City.

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