St. LOUIS, Mo. – Missouri State wrapped up the non-conference portion of its schedule Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 loss to Iowa State in the Billiken Classic at Chaifetz Pavilion. The Cyclones won by set scores of 25-16, 17-25, 25-16, 25-11.

Big offensive numbers led to each of the set wins, with the victor in each period hitting .387 or better. The Bears (3-9) led 1-0 but not again in the opening set as Iowa State (7-5) took control with an 8-1 run and hit .552 with 17 kills.

Missouri State followed suit and hit .433 in the second frame, closing on an 11-4 run. Iva Halacheva was 5-for-5 on the attack and closed it with the winning ace.

The Cyclones grabbed early leads in the final two sets and earned a pair of comfortable wins, hitting .387 and .424 to raise their efficiency to .365 for the match.

Halacheva led the Bears with 10 kills on .368 hitting, and Maddy Bushnell was close behind with nine on a .364 efficiency. Missouri State hit .189 as a team. Kate Owen had a team-high 12 digs and Morgan Sprague added 10 along with 33 assists for the double-double. She also served two of MSU's three aces.

MSU starts Missouri Valley Conference play next week with matches at league newcomers Belmont on Friday and Murray State on Saturday.