Box Score

WICHITA, Kan. - No. 16 Wichita State won its Missouri Valley Conference opener with a 3-1 victory over Missouri State. The Shockers won by scores of 23-25, 25-14, 25-18 and 25-10 to keep the undefeated season alive.

The deciding fourth set was over almost as quickly as it began. The Shockers (12-0) bounded out to a 5-1 lead, and put together their second 9-0 scoring rally of the evening en route to a convincing 25-10 victory.

Emily Stockman and Lindsey Eckenrode led the charge. The juniors connected for 10 kills in the set, Stockman led with six and Eckenrode right behind her with four, but the pair had help. Six Shockers contributed kills, tallying 15 for the set while holding the Bears to just six.

In the opening set, the Shockers witnessed six lead changes in a back-and-forth battle before falling to the Bears, 25-23.

Wichita State answered in a big way in the second set, dominating MSU, 25-14. Led by Stockman with five kills, the Shockers jumped ahead, 9-2. By the time the score reached 10-2, the Bears had exhausted their allotted amount of timeouts. Missouri State wouldn't trail by less than seven for the remainder of the set as WSU ran with it, 25-14.

The third set began a little reminiscent of the first, as the Shockers fell behind early, 2-6. A 9-0 Shocker run took care of that. Although the Wichita State offense was clicking, the scoring rally was fueled by five Bear errors. Missouri State sparked a rally of its own, closing the gap to 15-13, but would not creep any closer in the 25-18 Shocker victory.

Stockman finished the match with 18 kills, while Eckenrode tallied 11. Senior Kelly Broussard led defensively with 26 digs.

The Shockers are in next in action on Friday, September 26, at Drake University.

-Wichita State-