SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Missouri State volleyball team bounced back from Friday’s tough loss to Drake with a 25-20, 25-19, 25-23 Missouri Valley Conference victory over third-place Creighton Saturday evening at Hammons Student Center in Springfield.
The Bears (18-7, 9-5 MVC) dominated the match in terms of hitting percentage (.196-.072) and blocks (9-5) while handing Creighton (15-10, 10-5) just its third straight-set defeat of the season.
Missouri State took control of the first set with a 5-1 run to break a 9-9 tie and held the Bluejays off after the visitors pulled to 15-14, answering with two kills to pull ahead 17-14.
Kelley Michnowicz’s fourth kill was followed by a
Carly Thomas ace that gave MSU a 23-18 advantage, and CU scored the next two points before a service error on its part and an ace from
Ashley Mason gave the Bears the win.
The Bears used a 5-1 run in the second set to lead for good, going ahead 13-10 and not letting CU closer than one point the rest of the way. Three MSU kills pulled the Bears ahead 20-16, and they extended the run to 7-1 for a 24-17 lead before closing it out, hitting .316 in the period behind five
Calli Norman kills.
Creighton controlled the third set to a 17-13 advantage, but Missouri State clawed back for a 19-all tie before grabbing the lead at 21-10. Michnowicz and
Shayla Patrick teamed up for a block after that, and Michnowicz followed with a kill to get the Bears two points away. The Jays fought off two match points, but their eighth service error handed MSU the sweep.
For Missouri State, Norman led all players with 10 kills, and
Bethany Fuller added nine kills on .421 hitting along with five blocks.
Cara Hackmann led the Bears with 18 digs.
No CU player reached the 10-kill mark as MSU held the Bluejays to their second-lowest hitting percentage of the season. Creighton’s low came in at .060 against No. 5 Nebraska.
The Bears begin the final road swing of the regular season with a 7 p.m. Friday match at Southern Illinois (14-10, 5-9).
