Oct. 1, 2011

Box Score

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -

The Missouri State volleyball team suffered its first Missouri Valley Conference loss of the season Saturday with a 3-0 setback at 14th-ranked UNI in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

The Panthers' 25-21, 25-20, 25-17 victory marked their 46th consecutive win against MVC competition while improving their record to 16-1 overall and 6-0 in the league. The Bears dropped to 11-5 and 4-1 in Valley play.

Missouri State bolted to a 5-1 lead in the first set but committed a service error and four attack errors in succession to account for a 5-0 UNI run and 8-7 lead for the Panthers. The score was tied at each of the next four points before UNI went on a 5-1 run to take control. The Panthers pushed the advantage to six points when a Christine McCartney kill and two Carly Thomas aces pulled the Bears to 21-18. UNI responded with two of its six blocks in the set to go back up by five and coasted to the win.

The Bears served to open the second set, and nine side outs followed by two UNI blocks led to a 7-4 score in favor of the home team. The Panthers pulled ahead 9-5 and the Bears cut the lead to one on two occasions before UNI went on a 5-0 run to make the score 16-10. Five kills by four different Bears made up a 5-1 run that pulled MSU within two at 17-15, but the Bears got no closer in the five-point loss.

UNI took control of the third set with a 4-0 run for an 8-4 lead, and after Missouri State blocked consecutive Panther attacks to close to 8-6, UNI went on a 4-1 run to distance itself for good. After that, Missouri State pulled only as close as three points after hitting -.071 in the period on the way to a season-low .076 for the match.

The Panthers, meanwhile, hit .314 as a team and out-blocked the Bears 13-4. MSU's Karen Rivatto did have a match-high 11 kills, though freshman Kaitlin Jaeger with seven was her only teammate with more than four kills.

The Bears return home Friday (Oct. 7) for a 7 p.m. match with Creighton (10-7, 5-0).