CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Missouri State’s offense sputtered to a .162 hitting percentage and 30 errors Thursday at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Championship against Illinois State, as the fifth-seeded Redbirds beat the No. 4 Bears in four sets by scores of 25-19, 18-25, 25-18 and 25-21 at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
The Bears (21-9) struggled with the absence of MVC Freshman of the Year and team kills leader
Christine McCartney, who is still nursing a sprained ankle suffered Nov. 13, hitting above the .200 mark in only one of four sets.
The Redbirds (19-13) went ahead 9-4 in the first and never looked back, and the tables reversed in the second with MSU going on runs of 5-0, 4-0 and 4-0 after trailing 13-11 to pull away. The Bears hit .333 in the set to .079 for ISU, though Illinois State hit between .303 and .306 in the remaining three periods.
Missouri State never got closer than two points after an 8-3 ISU lead in the third set, and fell behind 8-2 in the fourth, cutting the ISU lead to three points on three occasions before giving ISU match point on a service error after closing to 23-20.
Megan Bess led all players with 14 kills,
Calli Norman added 13 and
Bethany Fuller had 10 on .333 hitting to go along with a team-high five blocks.
Cara Hackmann led with 21 digs.
Illinois State hit .245 and had four players with at least 10 kills. ISU outblocked the Bears, 12-8.
The Bears, ranked 33rd in the most recent NCAA RPI, will have to wait until Sunday to see if they will earn an at-large berth into their sixth NCAA Tournament in the last eight years. The selection show for the 64-team field airs live on ESPNEWS at 2 p.m. on Nov. 28.
