EMPORIA, Kan. - Newman volleyball traveled northeast for a short road trip to Emporia State Friday night. Newman was poised to end a losing skid with an opportunity facing the Lady Hornets, a team that Newman defeated in 4 sets in September. 

The Jets went into tonight's game on a 4 game winning streak against ESU, dating back to March 19th, 2021. 

A big thorn in the Jet's side this season has been getting the first set victory. They've had chances to get that in recent games but haven't been able to capitalize on the opportunity. The Jets last first set victory was on September 3rd against Arkansas Tech.

That streak ended tonight as Newman started off hot out of the gates with Ozioma Ajekwu tallying 4 kills out of the first 7 points for the Jets. Ajekwu caused trouble offensively and defensively for the Hornets, racking up 16 kills on the night being 1 away from tying her single game high of 17 to go along with 4 total blocks. 

Emporia State struck back in the 2nd set and snuck away with a 27-25 victory. The Jets were up late into the set but couldn't get past a late Emporia State run to push the match to 24-24. After an Ajekwu kill to tie the match at 25 all, a kill by ESU and a service ace by Megan Stratton tied the match at 1-1. 

Newman responded back in set 3, outhitting ESU .233 to .051 and winning the set 25-16. Abby Borough and Natalie Morales combined for the final 3 Jets points with Abby's set ending kill giving the Jets a 2-1 lead going into the fourth set. 

Riley Daugherty ended the match with 17 kills. The Hornets couldn't avoid the Sophomore as Daugherty led the way for the Jets on the offensive side and coming in clutch in big moments on the night. 

The fight and grit the Jets shown all night paid off in the final set with a dominating performance as Newman buried the Hornets 25-16. Mckinzie Weaver's sneak attack caught ESU off guard and gave Newman the 3-1 victory and momentum going into tomorrow's matchup against national ranked Washburn.

Natalie Morales had an excellent game on defense, earning 25 digs for the Jets to go along with an ace. Ashton George led Newman with Riley Daugherty with 2 service aces in the 4 set victory. 

Newman outhit ESU .283 to .133 and outscored them 75 to 59. The Jets also outblocked the Hornets 10-4 and had 3 more digs (82-79)

Newman will head back to Wichita tonight before traveling to Topeka, Kansas to take on Washburn tomorrow in a matchup set for 6 PM.