WICHITA, Kan. - The 2011 Missouri Valley Conference season did not start well for the Indiana State Sycamores as they dropped an 0-3 (14-25, 19-25, 15-25) decision to the host Wichita State Shockers in the MVC opener for both teams.
The loss stops a three-game win streak for the Sycamores who are now 7-4 overall and 0-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Indiana State will travel to Springfield, Mo., on Saturday to take on the Missouri State Bears (8-3, 1-0) who defeated Illinois State (8-5, 0-1) in five sets Friday 3-2 (21-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-16, 15-8). Wichita State (6-4, 1-0) will host Illinois State Saturday.
Junior Morgan Dall led the Sycamore offense with 13 kills but she was the only Indiana State hitter in double figures. Sophomore Monique Morris had six while freshman Samantha Kersting and senior Stacy Qualizza had three each. Senior Shelbi Fouty had 16 assists and senior Kiya James 10 digs while Kersting also had two blocks.
The Sycamores fell behind 5-0 early in the opening set and never could recover as the Shockers kept Indiana State from rallying and posted a 25-14 set win. ISU also dug a big hole early in the second set as they trailed 2-7 before coming back to cut the deficit to 9-12 on a Dall kill off a Fouty set. A Wichita State time out stopped the momentum shift and the Shockers prevailed 25-19 to take a commanding 2-0 set lead.
Things didn't go much better for Indiana State in the third set. After tying the set at one, the Sycamores could not stop a Shocker seven point run that gave Wichita State a commanding 8-1 led. ISU had a couple of rallies in the match but could not overcome WSU's big lead and fell 25-15.
FOLLOWING THE SYCAMORES: Live stats and video for this weekend's games can be found at:
Live Stats At Missouri State: http://www.missouristatebears.com/gametracker/launch/gt_wvolley.html?event=1012419&school=mosu&sport=wvolley&camefrom=&startschool=&
Live Video At Missouri State:
http://www.missouristatebears.com/allaccess/
