Women’s Volleyball Finishes Regular Season 1-1 on the Road

The University of Central Oklahoma women’s volleyball team finished its final regular-season games on the road this past weekend, beating Emporia State on Thursday before losing to Washburn on Friday night. 

The Bronchos are now 26-4 overall and 12-4 in Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) play. 

UCO started the back-to-back on Thursday, when they traveled to No. 24 Emporia State. The Bronchos fell behind early, losing the first two sets, 15-29, 19-25. Central rallied back, though, winning the next three sets, 25-20, 30-28, 15-9, and ultimately beating the Hornets in a five-set thriller that lasted three hours.

Mikiah Perdue and Lindsey Houran led the offense for the Bronchos. Perdue recorded 17 kills, while Houran dished out 34 assists throughout the five sets. Houran also helped the defense out, adding 22 digs to her stat list. 

Kaitlyn Parrott led the defense with 25 digs and also served three aces.  

Riley Roberts had an outstanding performance, recording 19 assists, 17 digs, nine kills, and four total blocks. 

Lari Migliorino contributed, collecting 11 kills and 5 total blocks, while Myla Unterweger had seven kills, and Kedron Burk, Sawyer Franz, and Sydney Huck each added five kills apiece.

Central Oklahoma headed to No. 8 Washburn Friday evening, where they ended their regular season falling short 3-1 to the Ichabods. 

The Bronchos looked promising, taking control and winning the first set 25-23. Unfortunately, that would be the only set they had control of, as Washburn won the next three sets, 25-22, 25-19, 25-16. 

Huck led the team in kills, recording 15, while Perdue was close behind with 14, and Houran once again dominated the offense, adding 43 more assists during the four sets.

Parrott led the defense again, digging up 20 Washburn attacks. 

With the regular season now over, UCO will now focus on the postseason. The MIAA announced the Volleyball Championship bracket over the weekend, and Central Oklahoma is the 4 seed entering the tournament. The Bronchos were tied with Emporia State for fourth place, but the tiebreaker went to UCO because of their win over Emporia on Thursday.

Central Oklahoma will play Emporia State this Thursday in the first round of the tournament, the quarterfinals, at 7:30 p.m. The 2025 MIAA Volleyball Championship will be played at the St. Joseph Civic Center in St. Joseph, Missouri. 

The winner of this championship will automatically earn a spot to play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II National Championship Tournament, which will begin in December.