SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State and Wichita State renewed their volleyball rivalry Sunday afternoon with the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational title on the line, and the Bears were two points away from victory before the Shockers rallied for the five-set win at Hammons Student Center.

The Bears fell to 4-1 on the year in their best five-match start since the 2015 season, while the Shockers improved to 3-0 with set scores of 25-23, 22-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-9. Missouri State's Brooklyn Cink and Amelia Flynn earned all-tournament honors.

"Our level of play got better as the weekend went on, even though today's result wasn't what we wanted," head coach Steven McRoberts said after MSU's 2-1 showing in the tournament. "This was a really good weekend that is going to prepare us well for conference play."

Missouri State was on the brink of the tournament title after freshman Katie Wemhoener's third ace of the match made it 20-12, and inched closer to a 23-18 score before the Shockers rattled off a 7-0 run to force a fifth set.

The Shockers extended their run to 11-0 with a 4-0 start to the fifth and used another 4-0 run to make it 9-4 before the Bears clawed back within 10-8 after consecutive Cink kills on her way to 18 in the match. WSU out-scored the Bears 5-1 from there to close it out, taking advantage of eight MSU attack errors in the final period.

The first set featured nine total aces – four by MSU and five by the Shockers – and ended on a 4-0 Wichita State run after Missouri State led 23-21.

The Bears served four more aces and added four blocks in the second, pulling away from a 16-all tie, and took the match lead in the third thanks in large part to a defense that had 31 digs and forced Wichita State attack errors.

That defense, which McRoberts said had its best match of the season, finished with a season-high 85 digs, with career-best efforts from Flynn (20), Holly Luginbill (16) and Kennedee Anderson (14) helping limit the Shockers to a .143 attack efficiency.

Luginbill added a career-high four service aces and the Bears had 12 total to reach double figures for the third time in five matches. Flynn added 16 kills, while Alyssa Doucette had nine to go with a team-high four blocks.

The Bears begin Missouri Valley Conference play Jan. 30 with a 1 p.m. match at Southern Illinois before the Salukis return the visit to Springfield on Feb. 2 at 3 p.m.