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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Wichita State came back from a two sets to none deficit to defeat UNI and move on to the finals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. The Shockers won by scores of 15-25, 23-25, 25-17, 25-11 and 15-7.

WSU will make the eighth finals appearance in school history and will play the winner of the Southern Illinois/Missouri State match.

Katie Reilly led the Shockers with 12 kills, while Mikalea Raudsepp had 11. Emily Hiebert had 35 assists and Dani Mostrom had 23 digs.

UNI used three-straight kills to take a 9-4 lead in the first set. A kill by Mikaela Raudsepp cut the lead to 11-7 and back to back UNI hitting errors brought the Shocks within 15-12. Two Panther kills and a service ace pushed the lead back to 19-13 and UNI ended the set on a 3-0 run for a 25-15 win.

Kills from Katy Dudzinski and Abbie Lehman gave the Shocks an early 5-2 lead in the second set. UNI used an 8-0 run to go in front 14-9, but the Shockers answered with a 4-0 run behind the serving of Emily Hiebert to cut the lead to 14-13. Two-straight Panther kills gave UNI a 22-19 lead, but the Shocks cut it to 23-22 after a Raudsepp kill and a Panther hitting error.

A service ace from Dani Mostrom put WSU up 4-1 in the third set. The Panthers cut it to 11-9 with a kill, but a kill and block from Katie Reilly put WSU up 14-9. Three-straight Panther hitting errors increased the lead to 20-12 and WSU won the set 25-17 on a kill by Reilly.

The fourth set went back and forth until a kill by Shimen Fayad and a block by Dudzinski put the Shocks up 5-3. A service ace from Fayad increased the lead to 7-4 and a block from Reilly and Lehman made the score 13-6. WSU used a 6-0 run to take a commanding 22-8 lead and won the set 25-11 on a kill by Raudsepp.

UNI used a 4-0 run to take a 4-2 lead in the fifth set, but the Shockers answered with a 5-0 run of their own to go in front 7-4. A block by Fayad and Lehman put WSU up 9-6 and a block boy Larson and Dudzinski increased the lead to 11-6. Another block by Larson and Dudzinski gave the Shocks the 15-7 win.

The Shockers move on to the MVC Tournament finals on Sat., Nov. 28 at 4 p.m. against the winner of the Southern Illinois/Missouri State match.