Volleyball Bears Take Down SEMO in Five Sets

CARBONDALE, Ill. – For the second consecutive day, Missouri State went five sets at the Saluki Invitational, this time coming away with a 3-2 victory over Southeast Missouri State inside Davies Gym.
 
The Bears (6-6) claimed the final two sets for the 25-19, 14-25, 26-28, 25-17, 15-11 come-from-behind win.
 
Iva Halacheva and Rilynn Finley shared the team lead with 15 kills each, while Neele’ge Sims hit .500 and tied her career-best with 11.
 
Riley Ourth totaled career bests with 14 digs and four aces, and five Bears reached double figures in digs, including Kate Owen (26), Brooke Eslinger (15), Kya Johnson (11) and Morgan Sprague (10). Sprague had 22 assists for her ninth double-double of the season, and Rossana Papa dished out 33 helpers off the bench as the Bears employed two setters in the contest.
 
Halacheva led the way in the first set with seven kills, including four in an 8-0 run to a 12-9 lead. Two aces from Ourth made it 24-15 and SEMO (3-7) spoiled four set points before Grace Smith’s kill gave MSU the win.
 
The Redhawks hit .440 in a wire-to-wire win in the second set, then jumped out to a 14-7 lead in the third. Maddy Bushnell put the Bears up 21-20, SEMO countered with a 4-1 run to set point at 24-22, and the Redhawks eventually converted their fifth winning chance to take a 2-1 match lead.
 
The Bears turned on the offense in the final two sets, hitting a combined .387 with 28 kills. Six different MoState hitters had multiple kills in the fourth period as MSU hit a blistering .519 with 17 kills in a 25-17 victory.
 
Missouri State then spotted the Redhawks three points to begin the fifth but took the lead for good at 8-7 on a Finley kill. Finley, Sims and Lexi Weinberg each had three kills in the final period while Owen scooped nine of MSU’s team 20 digs to help secure the victory.
 
MoState hit .207 compared to .209 for the Redhawks and were plus-10 in kills (67-57) and digs (91-81) while equaling a season high with eight aces.
 
Missouri State concludes the tournament against SIU Edwardsville at noon Saturday.