Missouri State’s volleyball team used a 9-2 run to close game two and a 13-2 run to finish game four on the way to a 3-1 (28-30, 30-26, 30-19, 30-19) win over Missouri Valley Conference rival Creighton Saturday evening before a crowd of 1,021 at Hammons Student Center.
The Bears (16-4, 8-1 MVC) moved into a first-place tie in the Valley with Northern Iowa at the midway point of the league season, while Creighton (15-5, 7-2) fell a game behind the leaders.
Like they have in 19 of 20 matches this season, the Bluejays jumped out early and picked up the game one victory, hitting a match-high .311 for the period with 18 kills against just four errors. Creighton would end the match with a .092 attack percentage after the oustanding game one play.
The Jays appeared ready to take a 2-0 match lead in intermission, leading 24-21 late in game two, but Missouri State rallied to tie the match, knotting the game at 25 and 26 before winning the last four points for a 30-26 win. Jamie Adams had five of her match-high 15 kills in the frame.
The Bears came out of the locker room and fell behind 10-8 in game three before going on an 8-0 run behind the serving of freshman Kari Mattingly, who finished the match with a career-high three of MSU’s eight aces. The Bears pulled away to a 30-19 win despite hitting just .135 in the game. MSU held Creighton to -.026 hitting for the third game and -.020 for the fourth.
After falling behind 13-9 in game four, the Bears rallied again to knot the score at 17-all and went on another critical 8-0 run to give the team a 25-17 lead. Adams had another five kills in the fourth game, and Nikki Vandepopulier was the defensive ace, coming up with 10 crucial digs in the final period.
The Bear offense hit .188 for the match and had six players finish with at least seven kills. Shanda Harper, Sarah Lansing and Erin O’Connor had nine kills apiece, Katelyn Panzau had eight and Sara Thomas turned in seven.
Adeana McAfee led the team with 19 digs, Vandepopulier finished with 16 and Panzau cracked double figures with 10.
Missouri State blocked 16 balls as a unit, led by eight from Harper and seven from Lansing.
The Bears hit the road this weekend for a 7 p.m. Friday contest at Northern Iowa and a 7 p.m. Saturday match at Bradley.
