The Missouri State volleyball team began the day with a 25-11, 25-14, 25-17 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff to set up a showdown for the T.J. Sales/Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational championship with Arkansas-Little Rock, but fell to the Trojans by a 19-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-27 score Saturday evening at Hammons Student Center.
MSU moved to 7-4 after its runner-up finish and had its stretch of nine consecutive Wynn Invitational championships and 32 straight match wins in the event snapped. UALR improved to 9-1.
The Bears allowed UALR to hit .338 in the first two sets of the title match and went to intermission down 2-0. Missouri State used two critical runs in the third set to grab the win, turning a 5-5 tie to a 9-5 lead early on, and running off five points in a row late after the Trojans pulled within one to go ahead 21-15. The Bears hit .342 in the set and got six kills on nine swings from
Addie Foley.
Missouri State led most of the way in the fourth set and was four points away from sending it to a fifth set with a 21-19 lead. UALR went on a 5-0 run to set up a match point, but the Bears responded with two kills from
Sara Staubach and another from
Cara Hackmann for the 24-24 tie. It was tied again at 25-25, but UALR earned the final two kills and the win.
Hackmann had 16 kills on .387 hitting to go with 15 digs, while Foley had 11 kills and hit .391 against the Trojans.
Terri Del Conte had 20 digs for MSU and setter
Ashley Kell set a new career high with 15 digs.
In the UAPB match, the MSU defense held the Lady Lions to -.105 hitting in the sweep. MSU used 14 players in the match and had career high efforts in kills from freshman
Calli Norman and sophomore
Joanna Granzow with 10 and six, respectively. Freshman
Tiffany Moe led the Bears with eight digs in her first collegiate action, and the team served a total of 10 service aces.
The Bears begin Missouri Valley Conference play next Friday (Sept. 19) at 18th-ranked Wichita State at 7 p.m.
All-Tournament team:
Anita Bucur UALR (MVP)
Amila Barakovic UALR
Giuliana De Francesco UALR
Cara Hackmann Missouri State
Sara Staubach Missouri State
Ashley Dillon IPFW
