SPRINGFIELD -- Missouri State rallied from a two-set deficit to visiting Valparaiso Friday at Hammons Student Center, but could not keep the momentum going as the Crusaders claimed the decisive fifth set for a 3-2 Missouri Valley Conference victory. Set scores in favor of Valpo were 25-23, 25-21, 25-27, 16-25, 15-7.

The Bears fell to 16-14 overall and 9-8 in MVC play, setting up a showdown with Loyola (16-13, 8-9) at 7 p.m. Saturday with the winner earning the fifth seed in next week's conference tournament in Springfield. An MSU victory would mean a Thanksgiving rematch with Valpo, while a loss would result in the sixth seed and a date with No. 3 Bradley. Fans can gain free admission to Saturday's Loyola match by showing a ticket from Saturday's women's basketball game that afternoon.

The Crusaders (23-9, 10-7) used a 5-0 run and two 6-0 runs to narrowly beat MSU in the first set, and rallied from a 17-13 deficit with another 6-0 run in the second on the way to a 2-0 lead.

The third set featured 20 ties and six lead changes, the last coming on a Natali Petrova ace for a 24-23 MSU advantage. Valpo spoiled a pair of set points before Ashley Ophoven scored one of her 17 kills for 26-25, and a Crusader error followed to give MSU the win.

The Bears hit .452 with 18 kills in a dominating fourth set, but were undone by a 5-0 Valpo run in the fifth that gave the Crusaders a 10-4 lead. MSU had more errors than kills in the final frame.

Six Missouri State players had at least seven kills, including Makina Wratten scoring eight times on 11 swings without an error, and Petrova logging career-bests of seven kills and 10 digs.

Chloe Rear handed out a career-high 60 assists, the most for a Bear since Kinsey Batten had 63 in the 2015 MVC Tournament title match. Emily Butters had 21 digs, moving to third in MVC and 21st in NCAA history with 2,438 in her career. 

The Bears finished with leads of .212-.179 in attack efficiency, 67-62 in kills and 80-67 in digs.