Sept. 28, 2012

Box Score

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa-- The Missouri State volleyball team lost 25-19, 25-15, 25-15 at UNI Friday as the Panthers won their 58th consecutive regular-season Missouri Valley Conference match to improve to 12-5 and 4-0 in the league.

The Bears (8-8, 3-2) fell behind 3-0 in the first set and never got closer than 3-1 after that as UNI piled up 17 kills on .350 hitting with five blocks in the period. Missouri State closed the gap to four points as late as 22-18 but could not mount a run.

The Panthers stuffed six more MSU attacks in the second, leading to the Bears hitting just .025 with 10 kills and nine errors. Missouri State led 5-4 when UNI turned the tables with a 5-0 run to lead 9-5 and stayed ahead by at least three points for the duration of the period.

UNI jumped to an 11-5 lead in the third before Missouri State cut the lead to three points on three separate occasions on two kills by Kinsey McCarter and another by Kaitlin Jaeger to make it 15-12. The Panthers answered that with a 5-1 run to lead 20-13, ultimately scoring 10 of the set's final 13 points to seal the match.

Missouri State managed only 36 kills and a .120 hitting percentage, while UNI's .379 attack efficiency goes down as the highest against the Bears this season.

The Panthers finished with 13 blocks, compared to two for the Bears, and led 51-39 in digs, just the fourth time in Missouri State's last 47 matches that the Bears trailed in that category.

Andrea Beaty led MSU with nine kills, Carly Thomas had 32 assists and Ashley Mason scooped 37 digs.

The Bears play at Bradley at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Braves (6-8, 0-3) lost 3-1 to Wichita State Friday.