The Missouri State volleyball team improved its record to 25-5 overall and 14-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 30-28, 30-21, 30-19 road sweep of Bradley Friday evening at Robertson Field House in Peoria.
The teams traded points early in game one before the Bears went on a 6-2 run capped by consecutive aces from Nikki Vandepopulier to make it 8-3. With Missouri State leading 26-19, the Braves (3-27, 2-15) ran off four straight points to pull within three. Jamie Adams hammered a kill to stop the run, but Bradley responded with two more points to cut the MSU lead to 27-25. The teams continued to trade points when BU’s Katrina Goncher blocked an MSU attack to make the score 29-28, but Sara Staubach ended it with a kill for a 30-28 win. Sara Thomas had seven kills in the game, while Staubach and Bethany Fuller had five apiece.
Neither team was able to open more than a two-point lead in game two until Addie Foley’s kill made it 9-6 Bears early on. The Braves pulled within one point on six occasions before MSU went on a 7-0 run to turn a 14-13 lead into a 21-13 advantage. Bradley got no closer than six points the rest of the way as the Bears finished the game with 20 kills, including six by freshman Cara Hackmann.
The Bears grabbed early control in game three, jumping out to leads of 5-1 and 9-3, but the Braves cut the MSU lead to 11-9 and got within two points twice more before the Bears went on a 3-0 run to make the score 16-11. Bradley held its own to a 20-16 score, but Missouri State went on a 6-0 run to extend its lead to 26-16 and coasted to the victory.
Adams and Thomas led all players with 13 kills each, Staubach added 10 and Bethany Fuller had a career-high nine for the Bears, who hit .269 as a team.
Vandepopulier totaled 22 digs and added three aces, and Katelyn Panzau handed out 47 assists.
The Bears limited Bradley to .075 hitting in the final two games after the Braves hit .308 in game one.
Missouri State closes the regular season at Northern Iowa Saturday night at 8 p.m. The winner clinches the No. 2 seed and a first round by in the State Farm MVC Tournament.
