VALPARAISO, Ind. – Iva Halacheva (20), Rilynn Finley (19) and Aniya Joseph (19) combined for 58 kills for Missouri State Saturday evening at Valparaiso, but the Bears came up just short as the Beacons claimed the fifth set in extra time at the Athletics-Recreation Center.
 
The Beacons (10-9, 2-5 Missouri Valley Conference) won by set scores of 21-25, 25-18, 25-23, 18-25, 17-15.
 
The Bears (7-12, 1-6) also had three players surpass 20 digs for the first time since Oct. 7, 2022, with Morgan Sprague scooping 23 and Kya Johnson and Kate Owen with 22 each. Johnson's total was a season high for the freshman.
 
MoState hit above .200 in all five sets and eclipsed the .300 mark in the two winning periods. Halacheva had seven kills in the first set and Finley had eight in the fourth set to lead the charge in those two stanzas.
 
Valpo led 6-1 in the second and held on for a comfortable win, and the third was a toss-up that featured 15 ties and eight lead changes, with the Beacons taking advantage of back-to-back MSU errors to pull away from a 21-all tie.
 
In the fifth, the Bears led 12-9 before the Beacons rattled off five consecutive kills to earn match point at 14-12. A Joseph kill and a block from Halacheva and Maddy Bushnell tied it at 14, and another Joseph kill spoiled a third VU match point for 15-15. The Beacons closed with two more kills for the 17-15 win and ended the contest with a 78-72 lead in that category.
 
Finley hit .410 and Halacheva hit .340 in a pair of efficient performances. MoState led 100-95 in digs and .280-242 in efficiency, while Valpo had a 7-5 margin in blocks and 5-4 lead in aces.
 
MoState stays on the road next weekend with matches at Indiana State on Oct. 18 and Evansville on Oct. 19.