Missouri State’s volleyball team picked up its first win of the season Saturday with a 3-1 win over Indiana at the Long Beach Invitational in Long Beach, Calif.

    The Bears won by scores of 26-24, 25-21, 21-25 and 25-21 and improved to 1-1. Indiana fell to 0-2.

    Trailing 6-2 in the first set with both points coming on Hoosier service errors, Missouri State climbed to within one at 7-6 following a Sara Staubach kill and then tied it at 8-8 with another kill by the junior outside hitter. The Bears gained their biggest lead of the set at 11-9 after back-to-back blocks by Cara Hackmann and didn’t trail again until IU grabbed the advantage at 21-20. Freshman Kelley Michnowicz got the lead back for the Bears by slamming a kill and adding a one-handed block on the next point, and MSU capitalized on a pair of service errors to get the score to 24-23. Indiana tied it but the Bears closed it out to win 26-24.

    The Hoosiers were quick-starters again in the second set, but a 6-0 Missouri State run put the Bears in control at 8-4. Indiana ran off five in a row to regain the lead, and the set went back-and-forth after that with neither team leading by more than two until Michnowicz and Bethany Fuller combined for a block that made it 20-17 in favor of the Bears. IU never got closer than two the rest of the way as the Bears went up 2-0 with the 25-21 win. MSU hit .429 in the second set with 16 kills, including four from Fuller on just five swings.

    Missouri State came out on the offensive in the third set, bolting ahead 8-3 and keeping the lead at three or more until a Hoosier block made the score 14-12. Indiana got within one point three times before blocking a Bear attack to tie the score at 18-18, and continued with two more points to go ahead 20-18. MSU tied it two more times, but the Hoosiers scored the final four points to win 25-21.

    The Bears took control of the fourth set from the beginning, jumping out to leads of 5-1 and 11-5, but an Indiana run led by Erica Short, who finished the match with 28 kills, got the Hoosiers within one at 15-14. That was as close as IU would get, however, as the Bears maintained the lead between two and three points and Michnowicz and Hackmann combined for the block to finish off the match with a 25-21 set four win.

   Fuller finished the match with a career-high 11 kills on .400 hitting and Addie Foley came within one of her career-best with 15 putaways. Staubach added 11 kills without an error. The Bears had 16.5 blocks, with Hackmann tallying seven and freshman setter Julia Cawthra adding five, including three solos.

    The Bears close the tournament against 24th-ranked Long Beach State at 9 p.m. Central Saturday.