KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, IND. ? The Indiana State volleyball team captured their first Missouri Valley Conference win of the season Saturday night in the ISU Arena, sweeping past the visiting Bradley Braves 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-23), ending a seven game losing streak on "Pink Night".
The Sycamores improved to 9-13 overall and 1-8 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Indiana State begins the second half of the 2010 Valley season on the home court next weekend as they host Wichita State on Friday and Missouri State on Saturday. Both games start at 7 p.m. (ET). Bradley fell to 4-16 overall and 0-8 in the MVC ahead of a Sunday matchup at Illinois State.
Sophomore Morgan Dall recorded her 11th double-double of the season as she led the Sycamore attack with 17 kills while also recording 16 digs. Junior Stacy Qualizza added eight and sophomore Shea Doran had seven. Junior Shelbi Fouty had 36 assists. Junior Kiya James had 11 digs on the night.
The Sycamores took control of the opening set after breaking away from a 4-all tie with a 6-1 run that put ISU up 10-5 after a kill by senior Ana Maira Charun. Indiana State kept the pressure on and pulled away from the Braves down the stretch to post a 25-13 win in the opening set.
Bradley had hopes to event the game up at a set apiece early in the second set and had a 14-8 advantage ahead of an Indiana State time out. The Sycamores came back onto the court and went on an 8-0 run that featured a pair of kills from Dall and two from Charun. Indiana State maintained the lead after that but Bradley stayed close and tied the set at 21. A kill by sophomore Auriel Armstrong and three straight Bradley errors resulted in a 25-21 Sycamore victory and a 2-0 lead at the intermission.
After taking a 14-8 lead in the third set, the Sycamores nearly led victory slip away as Bradley rallied and went in front 18-16. Indiana State had to keep fighting back and finally tied the set at 22 on a Qualizza kill. A Charun service ace put ISU on top for good at 23-22. The Sycamores reached game point on a Bradley error but the Braves denied ISU the win by taking advantage of an ISU error. However, Indiana State scored the win on a Dall kill to earn the set victory 25-23 and the game win three sets to none.
The Sycamores hit at a .636 in the opening set but could not keep up the pace and finished with a .302 hitting percentage with 41 kills in 96 attempts with 12 errors. Bradley had 32 kills in 109 attempts and 18 errors for a .128 hitting percentage.
