Oct. 20, 2012
Box Score
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Missouri State's volleyball team dropped its third consecutive match Saturday with a 3-1 (21-25, 25-15, 18-25, 23-25) defeat at Southern Illinois. The Bears fell to 11-12 overall and 5-6 in Missouri Valley Conference play, while SIU improved to 17-5 and 7-4 in the league.
The Bears quickly found themselves in a 6-1 hole in the first set but rallied to lead 13-12 thanks to a 4-0 run. The Salukis answered right back, ripping off five consecutive points to take the lead for good. Missouri State cut SIU's to three points on five separate occasions but could get no closer as the Salukis hit .312 and stuffed four MSU attacks to hold the Bears to .056 hitting.
The Bears played a near-perfect second set, led by Andrea Beaty and Christine McCartney. Beaty had four kills and six blocks in the period and McCartney had five kills while teaming up with Beaty on three of her blocks. The Bears hit .441 as a team and recorded seven blocks in all, jumping out to a 9-3 advantage and never leading by fewer than four points from there before Beaty fittingly closed the set with a block and a kill.
The third set was tight to a 10-9 score before the Salukis ripped off an 8-2 run to seize control at 18-11. The Bears were unable to mount a rally as SIU held that seven-point margin to the win while holding MSU to .056 hitting.
Missouri State scored the first two points of the fourth set and kept the lead until the Salukis used a 4-0 run to lead 10-8. The teams were tied five more times before Shelby Strang's ace gave MSU a 16-15 lead, and the Bears went up 18-16 before SIU used a 3-0 run to lead 19-18. Missouri State tied the set at 19, 21 and 23, but was never able to take the lead as SIU scored the final two points to claim the match.
Beaty finished with a team-high 14 kills on .417 hitting and seven blocks. Maddy Hogan and Kinsey McCarter had 12 digs apiece, though the Bears were out-dug for just the third time all season, 58-52.
SIU hit .221 to Missouri State's .177, piling up 58 kills to 49 for the Bears. Each team had 12 blocks.
Missouri State returns home Friday for a 7 p.m. match with Bradley.
