The Missouri State volleyball team rebounded from Friday’s loss with a 3-0 sweep of Bradley Saturday evening at Robertson Fieldhouse in Peoria, Ill. The Bears (17-5, 9-2 MVC) defeated the Braves (5-18, 2-9) by scores of 30-26, 30-24 and 30-18.
MSU prevailed in a sloppy game one by a score of 30-26. The Bears finished the period with 19 kills, but gave Bradley 13 points on attack errors and hit just .118 to BU’s .079. Shanda Harper had four kills without an error and Erin O’Connor had six of her match-high 13 kills to lead the offensive charge.
Missouri State took a 16-9 lead midway through the second game and kept the Braves at arm’s length for the remainder of the period in a 30-24 win. The Bears improved their hitting percentage to .229 in the game and turned in seven blocks, which proved to be the difference as Bradley had more kills than MSU, 16-15.
Missouri State trailed by a 6-4 margin early in the third game, but reeled off a 26-12 run to close out game three and the match. Four different Bears had three kills in the stanza as the team hit .306 to .026 for BU.
Sarah Lansing had a perfect night on the offensive side of the net, putting away seven kills with no errors and hitting .500. The senior was also in on nine of MSU’s 14 blocks, including a pair of solo efforts.
Like Lansing, Harper was nearly error-free offensively, turning in nine kills against a single error to hit .421 on 19 attempts. Jamie Adams added nine kills for the Bears and Katelyn Panzau chipped in seven to go along with 39 assists. Adeana McAfee led all players with 17 digs.
Missouri State hit .205 for the match and held the Braves to a .091 attack percentage.
The Bears return home for three matches next weekend, beginning with Wichita State at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 27. MSU hosts Belmont at 6 p.m. the next day and plays Valparaiso at 2 p.m. Sunday.
