Sep 6, 2013
Final Stats
DURHAM, N.H. -- Missouri State hit a season-high .328 and served nine aces Friday afternoon to defeat St. John's by a 3-1 (25-17, 25-15, 23-25, 25-10) final in the first match of the Holly Young Invitational hosted by the University of New Hampshire.
Missouri State (4-1) used a pair of 5-0 runs after trailing 12-11 in the first set to earn a comfortable 25-17 win. The first included two kills from Amber Doolittle for a 16-12 advantage, while Christine McCartney added two more during the second for a 24-16 lead. Those two combined for seven kills in 10 attempts without an error to lead MSU to a .321 hitting percentage in the first period.
St. John's (3-2) grabbed the early lead in the second before the Bears gained control at 13-8 thanks to a 6-0 run that included two service aces from Kaitlin Jaeger. Missouri State distanced itself even further from a 15-11 score, using kills from Kayla Walton and McCartney followed by a McCartney block for an 18-11 advantage. The Red Storm were no closer than six points the rest of the way as the Bears continued to click offensively, hitting .423 in the set.
The third set featured 12 ties and eight leads changes to a 20-20 score, and two MSU errors put St. John's three points away from the victory at 22-20. Olivia Brand answered that with a kill, and an SJU service error and Jaeger's kill knotted the score again at 23-all, but the Red Storm extended the match with two blocks.
Missouri State ran away with the fourth set after St. John's led 5-4, outscoring the Red Storm 21-5 from that point to close out the match with a 25-10 win. The Bears hit .483 in the final set and limited SJU to just five kills.
Brand had five kills in the fourth set on the way to a team-high 14 on .357 hitting. Doolittle added 12 kills and hit .421, and McCartney had 10 along with eight digs. The Bears finished with 58 kills to 38 for St. John's.
Ashley Mason and Carly Thomas scooped 11 digs each as the Bears led SJU 51-31 in that category while holding the Red Storm to a .139 attack efficiency.
Six Bears served at least one ace and MSU's team total of nine aces was the most since 2010.
The Bears play two matches Saturday, facing Brown (0-0) at 9 a.m. and New Hampshire (2-2) at 6 p.m. Those teams played each other Friday evening.
