Missouri State’s volleyball team suffered its second straight Missouri Valley Conference road loss Friday with a 3-1 setback at Creighton inside the Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Neb.
Creighton (5-5, 2-1 MVC) won by scores of 25-19, 25-21, 23-25 and 25-18, dropping the Bears to 8-6 overall and 0-2 in the league for the first time since 1995.
Creighton was clicking on all cylinders early, forcing a quick Missouri State timeout with a 6-1 run to begin the match. CU scored the first point after the stoppage to lead by six, but the Bears fired back with three straight points. The Jays remained in control after that, letting MSU within three points just twice more after the 7-4 score and using a total of seven blocks in the set to hold the Bears to .043 hitting.
The Bears finally earned their first lead of the match after a CU attack in the net made the score 11-10 MSU in the second set. It was a short-lived advantage, however, as the Bluejays answered with a 3-0 run. MSU kept it close, but two untimely hitting errors allowed Creighton to go ahead 19-16. The resilient Bears came back to force a 20-20 tie, but CU veteran Jessica Houts put away back-to-back kills and Allie Oelke followed with a service ace to give the Jays the cushion needed to seal the win.
Missouri State held an 8-6 lead in the third set when Creighton ran off a 10-0 run and seemingly had the match salted away with a 16-8 lead. Trailing 18-11, the Bears clawed back with a 6-1 run to pull within two at 19-17. CU pushed its lead back to four at 22-18, only to set up the MSU dramatics. The Bears miraculously reeled off seven of the final eight points, using four CU attack errors, two kills and an ace to steal the 25-23 win and force a fourth set.
The Bluejays quickly recovered from the set three loss, running out to a 10-3 lead in the fourth set. Creighton led by as many as 11 at 21-10, but Missouri State went on a 5-0 run at that point, forcing a CU timeout as flashbacks of the third set entered the minds of the Bluejay faithful. The Bears closed within five points, but CU got to match point at 24-17 and won 25-18.
Cara Hackmann recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 13 kills and 16 digs while hitting .276 for the Bears. Junior
Addie Foley also reached double figures with 10 kills, while
Calli Norman and
Sara Staubach each recorded eight. Defensively,
Terri Del Conte had an MSU season-high 22 digs.
The Bears play at Drake (8-6, 1-2) Saturday at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs were swept by No. 14 Wichita State on Friday.
