The Missouri State volleyball team opened the 2009 season on a sour note Friday evening with a 3-1 loss to defending Big Sky champion Eastern Washington at the Oregon Classic in Eugene, Ore. Scores in favor of the Eagles were 25-22, 25-20, 17-25, 25-21.
The Bears found themselves in an early hole in the first set of the year as EWU quickly grabbed an 8-2 lead. The Eagles expanded the advantage to eight at 13-5 before three straight
Bethany Fuller kills sparked a 5-0 MSU run. The Bears cut the lead to a single point on six occasions, the last at 23-22, before two attack errors handed the Eagles the first set win.
Missouri State reeled off three kills in a row early in the second set to take a 7-6 advantage for its first lead of the match, and remained ahead or tied until EWU capitalized on an MSU error to lead 15-14. A 3-0 run a few points later put the Eagles up 20-16, and the Bears got no closer than two points the rest of the way.
The Bears bolted to a 6-0 lead in the third set and the only blemish on a 9-1 start was a kill by EWU’s Hayley Hills, who totaled a match-high 20 on the night. A 6-0 spurt by the Eagles cut Missouri State’s lead to 11-8 and another 5-0 run knotted the score at 14-all. The set was tied twice more when the Bears closed the set exactly how it started, with a 9-1 run, including four blocks by the defense.
The run continued for Missouri State into the fourth set with the Bears jumping ahead 5-0 behind three kills from
Sara Staubach. The Bears kept the lead between three and seven until EWU scored three points at the service line, one on an MSU error and two on aces, to force a Missouri State timeout at 13-12. The Eagles grabbed a 17-14 lead out of the timeout, and the Bears tied it at 17, 19, 20 and 21 before EWU closed the set and match with a 4-0 run.
Calli Norman led MSU with 14 kills on .478 hitting, while
Addie Foley and Staubach both reached double figures with 10 apiece.
Cara Hackmann was the dig leader with 13, while Fuller was in on eight of the Bears’ 12 blocks.
Missouri State plays a pair of matches Saturday, facing San Francisco at 2 p.m. and 14th-ranked Oregon at 9 p.m.
