The Missouri State volleyball team suffered a 25-17, 25-16, 25-15 loss at Missouri Valley Conference rival Northern Iowa Friday, falling to 20-10 on the season and 11-5 in MVC play. UNI is now 22-5 and 12-3 in the league.

    UNI grabbed a 9-6 lead in the first set with error-free play, racking up four kills and two blocks on the way before a 3-0 MSU run tied things up. The Panthers immediately regained the lead and pulled away late for the win, out-hitting MSU by a .364-.206 margin and blocking four Bears’ attacks while making just one error of their own.

    Freshman Calli Norman took over the second set for Missouri State early, getting four kills and two blocks on the way to a 12-10 lead for the Bears. A quick 5-1 UNI run forced an MSU timeout trailing by two, but the stoppage did little to stop the Panthers, who scored the next three points when play resumed to lead 18-13 and weren’t threatened the rest of the set.

    With a 2-2 score in the third set, UNI reeled off six in a row and cruised from there, hitting .515 (18-1-33) in the final set to raise its match total to .387. The Panthers made just five attack errors total in the match.

    Norman ended up leading the Bears offensively, hitting .400 with 10 kills, and no other MSU player finished with more than six.

    Nikki Vandepopulier led MSU with 14 digs and moved into a tie with Sara Thomas (2004-07) for 12th place on the Missouri State career list. Terri Del Conte added 10 digs to reach double figures for the 20th straight match.

    The Bears play at Bradley (5-24, 1-14) at 7 p.m. Saturday.