The Missouri State volleyball team fought off five match points in the fifth game but came up on the short end of the highest scoring game five in school history in a 3-2 Missouri Valley Conference loss to Wichita State Friday evening in front of a season-high 1,183 fans at Hammons Student Center in Springfield.
The visiting Shockers won by scores of 28-30, 31-29, 16-30, 30-28 and 20-18 to improve to 19-4 overall and 10-2 in the Valley. The Bears fell to 17-6 overall and 9-3 in the league.
The Bears were down 14-11 in game five before going on a 4-0 run to take the 15-14 lead and serve for the match. The Shockers regained the lead and had match points of their own at 16-15 and 17-16. Following a WSU service error and a kill from Sarah Lansing, the Bears again found themselves serving for the match at 18-17 but Wichita State scored the final three points of the match to win game five, 20-18.
The teams split the first two games, scoring 59 points apiece before intermission, and MSU came out of the locker room on fire, hitting .283 to WSU’s -.083 in a 30-16 game three win. The Bears neutralized Shocker star and MVC kills per game leader Sara Lungren through the first three games, holding her to just eight kills. Lungren led the charge late and finished with 17 kills for the match.
WSU took over the match with a 5-0 run midway through game four, turning a 13-all tie into an 18-13 lead, and never letting Missouri State closer than two points for the remainder of the fourth game.
Despite the loss, numerous Bears had career efforts in different statistical categories. Jamie Adams tied her career high with 18 kills, and freshman Shanda Harper set a new personal best with 15.
Adeana McAfee reset the school record she set earlier this year at WSU with 38 digs, and Katelyn Panzau (27) and Sara Thomas (26) also set new personal bests in digs. MSU dug 125 balls as a team, its highest total since posting 131 digs against Wright State in 1990.
Panzau tied her career best in assists, helping out on 61 of Missouri State’s 80 kills, and Lansing tied a season high with 12 blocks.
MSU finished the match with 250 attacks, the most in a match since 1993, and hit .148 to WSU’s .111.
The Bears play Belmont (19-4) of the Atlantic Sun Conference at 6 p.m. Saturday and Valparaiso of the Mid-Continent Conference (15-9) at 2 p.m. Sunday at Hammons.
