The Missouri State volleyball team rallied from a 1-0 deficit to defeat the Arkansas Razorbacks 3-1 and earn the program’s first ever NCAA Tournament victory Friday evening at Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. Scores in favor of Missouri State were 28-30, 30-21, 30-27 and 30-28.
The Bears improved to 27-8 overall while Arkansas ended its season at 16-13. The team’s 27 victories are tied with the 2000 and 2003 squads for the most in 11 seasons under Melissa Stokes.
An evenly contested fourth game was tied seven times and saw three lead changes before Arkansas went on a 4-0 run midway through the period to take a 17-13 lead. The Lady Razorbacks pushed the lead to five at 22-17 but the Bears made it 22-20 after an attack error and back-to-back aces from Sarah Lansing. Arkansas got a side out and MSU again rallied, this time with a 4-0 run to take a 24-23 lead. The game would be tied at 24, 25, 27 and 28 before the Bears won the final two points on Arkansas errors for the 30-28 game victory and the first NCAA Tournament win in program history.
Arkansas took the first three points of the match before Shanda Harper put the Bears on the board with a kill. The Lady’Backs went on another 3-0 run to build a five-point lead, but Missouri State fought back within one at 10-9 and then tied it at 12-all. A 4-0 run capped by a Jamie Adams kill gave the Bears their first lead of game one at 17-16. Arkansas answered with a 4-0 run and held on for a 30-28 win after MSU fought off three game points. Missouri State had 21 kills and hit .256 to 11 kills and .132 hitting by Arkansas, but nine blocks by the Lady Razorbacks and four Bear service errors made the difference.
Arkansas gained an early 4-1 lead in the second game, but Missouri State responded and built a 12-8 advantage. Trailing 19-14, Arkansas reeled off three straight points to cut the MSU lead to 19-17, but the Bears extended the lead up to seven at 25-18. MSU would hit .297 in the period and held Arkansas to -.054 in the 30-21 win that sent the match into intermission tied at 1-1.
Missouri State carried the momentum from its game two win into the third frame, taking an 11-7 lead and holding it at 3-to-6 points before a late run gave the Bears a 28-19 advantage. The Lady’Backs went on an 8-0 run to make the score 28-27 MSU, but a kill from Erin O’Connor and an attack error gave the Bears a 30-27 win. Arkansas had 18 kills in the game to 12 for Missouri State, but also committed 11 attack errors.
Shanda Harper finished with a career-high 16 kills on .500 hitting and added nine blocks, leading an offense that hit .194 to Arkansas’ .119. O’Connor added 15 kills and Adams had 14.
The Bears finished with 13 blocks and allowed 19 to the Lady’Backs, a season-high for an MSU opponent. Katelyn Panzau, Adeana McAfee and Sara Thomas each had 14 digs.
Missouri State plays the winner of No. 13 Oklahoma and Oral Roberts at 7 p.m. Saturday in Fayetteville. The match will be broadcast live on KTXR 101.3 and a live webcast including the MSU radio feed will be available at http://www.ladybacks.com.
