KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
Indiana State continues Valley road swing
with contest at Wichita State Saturday night
SPRINGFIELD, MO. ? Sophomores Shea Doran and Christie Fullenkamp along with junior Shelbi Fouty had career nights but it wasn't enough to carry the Sycamores to victory as Indiana State dropped a hard fought 3-1 (17-25, 18-25, 27-25, 16-25) decision to the Missouri State Bears in front of 647 fans at the Hammons Student Center Friday night.
Doran had a career high nine kills and a season best .467 hitting percentage while Fullenkamp had 13 kills in 37 attempts, both career highs for the sophomore. Fouty joined the effort with a career high 54 assists.
Sophomore Morgan Dall again led the Sycamore offense with 15 kills while junior Stacy Qualizza added 12 kills and sophomore Auriel Armstrong seven. Junior Kiya James had 20 digs and now has 965 career digs, just one short of Tracy Swystun for seventh on the career list.
The game was a lot closer than the final score indicated with Missouri State knocking down 59 kills to Indiana State's 57 with the Bears outhitting ISU .328 to .226. What hurt the Indiana State effort was giving up 18 points on errors.
Indiana State held a 6-2 lead early in the opening set after a Qualizza kill and a block by Qualizza and Fouty. The Bears came back to tie the set up and ISU had their last lead of the opening set at 8-7 off a Fullenkamp kill. Missouri State was not able to pull away from the Sycamores until a 3-0 run pushed the lead to 16-12 ahead of an Indiana State time out. The Sycamores were not able to close the gap on the Bears and dropped the set 17-25.
The Sycamore went up early again in the second set but a 5-3 advantage was erased by the Bears on a 3-0 run that put Missouri State on top 6-5. Indiana State was able to draw even with the Bears at six off a Dall kill but the Bears scored the next four points to take a 10-6 lead. ISU fought to stay in the set but could not get back to even and dropped the set 18-25.
The third set went back and forth with 20 ties and eight lead changes. The Bears were sitting at game point with a 24-23 lead but Fullenkamp kept the Sycamores alive with a kill of a Fouty set to knot the score at 24. Missouri State had a second change at game point after a Cara Hackmann kill but Doran answered for the Sycamores to tie the set at 25. A kill by Dall put ISU back on top and an Armstrong kill sealed the set win for ISU 27-25.
Indiana State's hopes of keeping the momentum on their side was quickly dashed as Missouri State sprinted out to a 7-2 lead before an Indiana State timeout. The Sycamores were able to work their way back to within four at 16-12 off a Qualizza kill but a 5-1 Bears run turned back the ISU effort. Missouri State went on to win the set 25-16 and take the game 3-1.
Indiana State dropped to 8-7 overall and 0-2 in the Missouri Valley Conference with the loss. The Sycamores will play at Wichita State Saturday night with the game set to begin at 8 p.m. (ET). Missouri State improves to 10-3 overall and 2-1 in the Valley. The Bears host Illinois State on Saturday.
Live stats for the game at Wichita State Saturday night can be found at:
http://www.goshockers.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml?SPSID=590939&SPID=2838&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=7500
