University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Missouri State vs. Southern Illinois
Missouri State Advances With 3-0 Sweep of SIU
11/27/2014 1:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The Missouri State Bears won their first Missouri Valley Conference Tournament match since 2008 with a 3-0 sweep of the Southern Illinois Salukis. The Bears won by set scores of 25-20, 25-13, 25-16.
Missouri State recorded the fifth-highest hitting percentage in an MVC Tournament match with a .404 hitting percentage against Southern Illinois. The Bears posted 50 kills with 12 errors on 94 attacks in the three-set win.
Missouri State (20-11 overall) scored a 25-20 victory in the first set of a back-and-forth affair. MSU led 13-9 only to see SIU go on a 7-1 run to give the Salukis a 16-14 lead. The set was tied at 19-19 before the Bears closed the set on a 6-1 run. The Bears hit .464 in the set with 16 kills and only three attack errors. MSU's Lily Johnson posted five kills, while her teammate Lynsey Wright notched four kills on five attacks for an .800 hitting percentage.
The Bears pounced early in the second set with leads of 6-1, 9-2 and 12-3. The Salukis slowly crept back in it and cut the lead to 13-7, but the Bears scored four in a row and pushed the lead to 17-7. MSU was able to close out the second set, 25-13. The Bears pounded out a .342 hitting percentage in the second set, led by Johnson's six kills on 13 swings.
SIU (16-15 overall) took a 10-6 lead to open the third set, only to see MSU charge back and knot the set at 10-10. The Bears used an 11-2 run to take a 17-12 lead in the final set. The Bears scored a 25-16 victory to take the match.
The Bears avenged a 3-2 loss to the Salukis on Nov. 14. MSU had swept SIU in Carbondale, Ill., on Oct. 18.
Missouri State advances to take on No. 1 seeded Illinois State in Friday's semifinal. The Bears and Redbirds will get underway at 5 p.m. in the McLeod Center.
NOTES: MSU's Lily Johnson posted a match-high 16 kills … the Bears's Andrea Beaty (8 kills, .538 hitting percentage) and Lynsey Wright (9 kills, .467 hitting percentage) also led the way … SIU was led by Andrea Estrada and Abby Barrow with six kills each.
