PEORIA, ILL. - Indiana State outlasted the Bradley Braves in the opening set but had to fight from behind in each of the next three sets as they were defeated 1-3 (27-25, 20-25, 24-26, 18-25) by the host Braves in a Missouri Valley Conference game Friday night.
Indiana State (10-11 overall and 2-8 in the Valley) will take their road show to Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Saturday where they will meet 11th ranked Northern Iowa in an 8 p.m. (ET) match. The Panthers ran their conference win streak to 46 games Friday with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-19, 22-25, 25-20) win over Illinois State. Northern Iowa is 21-1 overall and 10-0 in the Valley.
Senior Stacy Qualizza had 13 kills and sophomore Monique Morris added 10 to pace the Sycamore offense against Bradley Friday. Junior Christie Fullenkamp and sophomore Molly Murphy had six each while freshman Samantha Kersting had five. Senior Shelbi Fouty had 40 assists and 21 digs while junior Shea Doran had four blocks on the night.
Indiana State jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the opening set but could not hold off the Braves who rallied to tie the set at 13 and take their first lead at 14-13 on a Sycamore error. The Sycamores finally regained the lead at 20-19 but found themselves down once again and facing set point at 24-23. Kersting came up with a big kill to tie the set and Murphy followed with one of her own to put ISU up 25-24. Bradley gained the tie on another Sycamore effort by Qualizza gave the Sycamores the win with a block and a kill for a 27-25 victory.
The Sycamores never led in the second set and were down 18-9 midway through before staging a rally late in the set. However, Indiana State could not get any closer than four and fell 25-20 as Bradley evened the game at one set each.
Indiana State scored the first four points of the third set but could not keep up the effort as Bradley rallied and went up 13-9 just before a Sycamore time out. ISU trailed by as many as six before rallying to within one, 23-22, on a Bradley error. The Braves went back up by two before ISU rallied to tie the set at 24 on a Morris kill. Bradley scored the final two points to take the 26-24 win and lead the game two sets to one.
The Sycamores never led in the fourth set but managed to stay close until late when the Braves broke away from a 14-11 lead to post a 25-18 set win and take the game three sets to one.
Bradley improved to 8-12 overall and 2-9 in conference play. Amy Angelos had 13 kills, Courtney Keefe and Megan Schmidt 11 each, and Alise Tupuritis 10 to pace the Braves.
