Oct. 1, 2004
Tiffany Graham Records The Fourth Triple-Double In Truman History In 3-1 Bulldog Win
On Friday night, the Bulldog volleyball team visited a place where they have had trouble the past few years, the Young Gymnasium in Joplin, Mo. Truman did drop a game in the match with the Lions but when the night was over, the Bulldogs had recorded another road victory with a 30-19, 26-30, 30-17, 30-24 win.
Truman, ranked third in the nation, improved to 16-0 overall and 7-0 in the MIAA. Missouri Southern dropped to 6-10 overall and 2-4 in conference.
Missouri Southern had its best game after falling behind early by an early 1-0 score. The Lions hit .245 in the second game and held the Bulldogs to just a .163 mark as they were able to win the game. Truman responded by hitting .351 in the third game as the Bulldogs won the game by 13 points and then they were able to close the match out in the fourth game.
Truman hit just .200 on the night, but had big nights from its top two hitters. Sarah Shearman (Manchester, Mo./Lutheran South) and Jessica Sears (Colchester, Ill./Colchester) combined to record 35 kills and hit .324. Shearman had a game-high 21 kills, her third match of the season with 20 or more kills. Sears had a double-double with 14 kills and tied for the team-high with 19 digs.
The Bulldogs' Tiffany Graham (Holden, Mo./Holden) made some Bulldog history as she became just the third Truman player to record a triple-double. Graham ended the match with 11 kills, 13 digs and 10 blocks. Graham's 10 blocks are the most by a Truman player since NCAA volleyball went to the rally scoring system in 2001.
Micaela Walter (Topeka, Kan./Shawnee Heights) was the fourth Truman player in double-figure kills with 10. Rebecca Knefelkamp (Oakville, Mo./Nerinx Hall) led the team with 39 assists and libero Lauren Dickbernd (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles West) tied with Sears with 19 digs.
Missouri Southern had two players in double-figure kills as Jackie Gallagher had 19 and Ashley Mehrer added 12. Denise Lancaster had a game-high 44 assists, Amy Barnicle led the team with 18 digs and Mehrer recorded seven blocks in the match.
Volleyball Notes: Truman now leads the all-time series with Missouri Southern by a 22-14 margin ... the Bulldogs have held the opponents' hitting percentage under .200 in 15 of their 16 matches ... the three other Truman triple-doubles came during the 1995 season when Jennifer Sigman recorded two and Christie Hackmann collected the other one ... the Bulldogs end a five-match road trip on Saturday when they travel to Pittsburg State for a 5:30 p.m. match.