St. LOUIS, Mo. – The Missouri State volleyball Bears took down Kansas City and fell to host Saint Louis on Friday during the first day of the Billiken Classic at Chaifetz Pavilion.

The Bears (3-8) overcame a slow start against the Roos to earn the 3-1 victory in the morning match and dropped the nightcap to SLU by the same score.

Missouri State finishes the non-conference schedule Saturday at 1 p.m. against Iowa State in St. Louis.

Kansas City Recap (MSU won 24-26, 25-15, 25-17, 25-22)
Lucca Dunser tallied career highs of 12 kills and 17 digs, Iva Halacheva had a career-high 15 kills and the Bears served a season-best 11 aces to open the day with a victory against Kansas City.

Both teams hit above .350 in the opening set but defense was the difference with the Roos (3-9) blocking a pair of MSU attacks for the final two points and a 1-0 lead.

The Bears served eight aces in the second set and used a 12-2 run to seize control, then had runs of 4-0 and 5-0 after a 13-all tie in the third set to take the match lead.

Missouri State trailed for much of the fourth set, with Dunser's 10th kill for 15-15 securing the freshman her first career double-double. The Bears tied again at 18 and 20 and took a 21-20 lead on another Dunser winner. Manuela Ibarguen followed with a kill and ace in MSU's closing 4-1 run for the win on her way to a fifth double-double this season with 13 kills and 10 digs.

The Bears hit .227 as a team and limited themselves to just four service errors. Dunser and Maddy Bushnell served three aces each, and Kate Owen led five players in double figures with 22 digs to equal her season high.

Saint Louis Recap (SLU won 25-21, 25-22, 10-25, 25-11)
Ibarguen slammed 22 kills on .309 hitting – one shy of her career high – but the Bears fell to SLU in four sets despite matching the Billikens in kills with 48 apiece.

Saint Louis (7-3) used a 9-1 run to take control of the first set and hit .379 with four blocks, then pulled away from a 14-14 tie in the second.

Missouri State rallied out of intermission for a dominant win in the third, jumping ahead 13-2 and hitting .414 with 15 kills compared to six kills on .000 hitting for the Billikens. Ibarguen tallied 10 of her kills in the third set alone.

The Billikens turned the tide in the fourth in a mirror image of the previous period, hitting .464 and holding the Bears to a negative efficiency to close out the match.

While both teams had 48 kills, the Billikens committed 11 fewer attack errors, with much of the difference coming from a 12-5 blocking advantage for the home team.

Bushnell hit .320 with 10 kills for the Bears, Owen had 14 digs, and Morgan Sprague handed out 37 assists.