The Missouri State volleyball team fell in five sets at Evansville Saturday evening, losing by scores of 19-25, 25-14, 25-23, 19-25 and 15-11 to snap an 18-match winning streak against the Aces.

    The Bears saw their four match winning streak end and fell to 12-7 overall and 4-3 in the league after the Missouri Valley Conference defeat. UE evened its overall record at 10-10 and is 4-3 in MVC play as well.

    After winning the first two points of the fourth set, the Bears watched Evansville score the next nine in a row before a Sara Staubach kill put an end to the run. Missouri State began to chip away at the seven-point deficit, getting the score to 15-10 when UE went on a 5-0 run to make it 20-10. The Bears responded with a 6-1 run to pull back within five, but it proved to be too little, too late as the 10-point UE lead easily help up and forced a fifth set.

    Evansville continued its run into the final set by winning the first three points. Cara Hackmann provided two points for the Bears in response with a kill and a block, but UE got those right back and another to lead 6-2. MSU sided out the Aces but was answered with another 2-0 run, and Evansville kept the lead at four and five points before an MSU block made the score 11-8. The Bears got two more kills to pull within a point at 11-10, but UE ripped off three straight to get to match point at 14-10 and got the winning kill two points later.

    The Bears held a 9-7 lead in the first set when Evansville ripped off five points in a row and led the rest of the way in a 25-19 win. The Aces held MSU to 10 kills and .148 hitting, while hitting .257 and notching 16 kills.

    UE kept the momentum into the second set and jumped out to a 3-0 lead. A Calli Norman kill got the Bears their first lead at 8-7, Terri Del Conte followed with a service ace and MSU pushed its lead to four at 13-9 with two UE errors. Missouri State kept the Aces at arm’s length and pulled away late on the strength of .476 hitting while Evansville sputtered to a .000 mark.

    Missouri State picked up where it left off in the third set, using a 5-0 run to 6-2. The Bears kept the lead between three and six points until UE went on a 3-0 run to pull within 15-13 and then closed the gap to one point at 17-16. MSU let the Aces within a point four more times, the last at 24-23, but Addie Foley’s kill gave the Bears a 25-23 win.

    Staubach ended the match with 16 kills, Foley had 13 and freshman Kelley Michnowicz had 11. Terri Del Conte had 20 digs to lead the team for the ninth straight match.

    MSU is now 28-2 all-time against UE, and had won 42 consecutive matches with Indiana schools before the loss.

    Missouri State begins a five-match homestand Tuesday at 7 p.m. with SIU-Edwardsville.