KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, IND. ? The Sycamore volleyball team kept coming back against the visiting Missouri State Bears but could not pick up the victory, dropping the Missouri Valley Conference contest 3-0 (21-25, 16-25, 19-25) in the ISU Arena Saturday night.
Indiana State falls to 9-15 on the season and 1-10 in the Missouri Valley Conference with the loss. The Sycamores will play on the road next weekend, visiting Creighton on Friday and then playing at Drake on Saturday. Missouri State improved to 17-5 on the season and 8-3 in the Valley.
Sophomore Morgan Dall led the ISU offense with 12 kills while junior Ana Maira Charun added nine, and junior Stacy Qualizza eight. Junior Shelbi Fouty had 37 assists on the night while Fouty, Dall, and freshman Monique Morris had eight digs each. Calli Norman led Missouri State with 11 kills with Christine McCartney knocking down 10. Carly Thomas had 34 assists while Cara Hackmann had 13 digs.
The opening set was tied eight times with three lead changes as the Sycamores fought to secure the first set victory. Indiana State had their last lead at 12-11 after a kill by Qualizza but a ball handling error tied the set up at 12. The score was tied for the final time at 13 with the Bears scoring two straight points to take the lead for good. ISU stayed in the fight until the end and lost the opener 25-21.
The second set was all Missouri State as the Bears jumped out to a 7-1 lead and never looked back. Indiana State did come back in the set and cut the deficit to 20-15 after a MSU error but could not get any closer. ISU went into the intermission down 0-2 after a 16-25 defeat in the second set.
The third set went back and forth early with the Sycamores leading 3-2 before the Bears scored three straight to take the lead for good. Missouri State extended their led to 19-10 but the Sycamores would not quite, cutting the deficit and denying the Bears game point three times before surrendering the set 25-19 and the game 3-0.
Indiana State finished with 43 kills in 108 attacks with 21 errors for a .176 hitting percentage while the Bears had 43 kills in 93 attempts with nine errors for a .366 hitting percentage.
