Aug 31, 2013
Final Stats
Tulsa Boxscore | Dayton Boxscore
DAYTON, Ohio -- The Missouri State volleyball team wrapped up play at the Dayton Invitational Saturday evening with a 3-1 upset of the 22nd-ranked homestanding Flyers after falling to Tulsa by a 3-0 final in the morning match at the Frericks Center in Dayton, Ohio.
The Bears' victory over Dayton was their first against a top-25 team since 2009 and secured Missouri State a three-way tie for the tournament championship with UD and Tulsa, as all three teams finished the event 2-1 with Ashley Mason earning MSU's spot on the all-tournament team. The Flyers are the preseason pick to win their fifth consecutive Atlantic 10 championship, while Tulsa has won Conference USA each of the last three seasons. Both clubs won at least 26 matches and played in the NCAA Tournament in 2012.
Missouri State continues its opening-weekend road trip at Northern Illinois on Monday with a 2 p.m. match in DeKalb. The Huskies defeated Green Bay and Liberty and lost to Ohio State at home over the weekend.
#22 Dayton Recap (Won 16-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-16)
The Bears got better as the match progressed against Dayton, never leading in the first set but winning each set after that by a greater margin to eventually end Dayton's 25-match home winning streak.
The second set lead changed hands several times on the way to a 10-10 tie, and the Bears went on a 5-1 run from there with the help of two kills and a block from Carly Thomas to lead 15-11. Dayton closed to 15-13 when Andrea Beaty scored a kill and a solo block to end another 3-0 run with an 18-13 advantage. The Bears led by six points at 21-15, and Christine McCartney's kill stopped a 3-0 Dayton run at 22-18. The Flyers closed to 22-20 before Kayla Walton kills gave MSU set point at 24-20 and the 25-21 win.
Four straight Missouri State kills and a Dayton error made for a 5-0 run and 9-5 lead for the Bears in the third set, and MSU extended its lead to six at 14-8 after Kaitlin Jaeger and Walton landed two more scores midway through the period. Two more Walton kills made for a pair of six-point leads at 16-10 and 17-11, and the Flyers got no closer than 20-17 after that as MSU piled up 19 kills on .318 hitting in the set.
Jaeger started the fourth set with consecutive kills and the Bears did not trail on the way to a 14-8 advantage. A McCartney kill gave MSU that 14-8 lead and the senior landed another to stop a 3-0 UD run at 15-11 and begin a 3-0 spurt for MSU to get the margin back to six at 17-11. Missouri State kept its lead at five points or better and Jaeger finished off the win with her 14th kill of the night as the Bears hit .560 in the final period.
Walton and Jaeger paved the way for the Bears offensively with 14 kills and one error each. Walton hit .565 and Jaeger came in at .419, while Amber Doolittle joined the pair in double figures with 12 kills. Thomas had seven kills on .462 hitting with 48 assists, five digs and four blocks. Ashley Mason scooped 23 digs as the only Bear in double figures.
Missouri State hit .260 on the night with 58 kills, compared 46 kills and a .205 attack efficiency for the Flyers. The Bears out-dug UD 57-53, while Dayton held a 13-8 blocking advantage.
Tulsa Recap (Lost 25-27, 19-25, 27-29)
Missouri State had its chances against the Golden Hurricane, including a total of six set points in the first and third sets that the Bears were unable to convert, as each of those frames went beyond the required 25 points to win.
The Bears let the first set slip through their fingers, letting Tulsa come back from a 23-17 deficit to win 27-25. The Golden Hurricane got back into the set with a 5-0 run that was stopped by a Carly Thomas kill that gave the Bears a set point at 24-22, and proceeded to fight off three MSU set points while closing on a 10-2 run. TU had two critical blocks in the run and six total for the first set.
Tulsa used an early run to gain the upper hand in the second set, scoring four straight points for a 7-4 advantage. A pair of Olivia Brand kills tied the score at 7-7 and 8-8, but the Bears never retook the lead after TU's initial run. The Golden Hurricane put the set away with a 7-0 run to distance their lead from 15-14 to 22-14, and held a nine-point cushion that withstood Missouri State spoiling four set points.
The Golden Hurricane bolted to a 9-3 lead in the second period and the Bears slowly chipped away until Christine McCartney's service ace forged a 17-17 tie. The score was tied at each point to 20-20 before TU's 4-1 run gained a match point at 24-21. Andrea Beaty answered with four kills, including points for MSU leads of 25-24 and 26-25, and a Tulsa service error gave the Bears another set point at 27-26, but TU managed to close on a 3-0 run just like the first set and finish off the sweep.
Brand's 10 kills represented the only Bear to reach double figures, while Ashley Mason had a team-high 17 digs and McCartney added 15 to go with three aces. Tulsa held a .221-.143 advantage in hitting efficiency.
