SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Wichita State used a balanced offensive attack to earn a road win in the Missouri Valley Conference opener at Missouri State. The Shockers won by scores of 26-24, 20-25, 25-12, 21-25 and 15-10.
Five Shockers finished with double-digit kills including
Mikaela Raudsepp with 15,
Tabitha Brown with 13 and
Abbie Lehman,
Katy Dudzinski and
Jody Larson all with 11.
Emily Hiebert had eight kills, 46 assists and 18 digs, while
Dani Mostrom finished with 26 digs.
The first set went back and forth until the Shockers used a 4-0 run to take a 16-11 lead. The Bears answered with a 3-0 run to pull within 16-14, but the Shockers used kills from
Emily Hiebert and
Mikaela Raudsepp to go up 18-14. The Bears again responded with a 3-0 run to close the gap to 18-17, but the Shockers answered used a kill from
Tabitha Brown and a Hiebert service ace to take a 21-18 lead. MSU scored two-straight to pull within 21-20, but the Shockers reached set point at 24-22 on a block by
Abbie Lehman and
Jody Larson. The Bears used two-straight kills to tie it at 24, but a block by Raudsepp and a Bear hitting error gave WSU the 26-24 win.
The Shockers took a 5-3 lead in the second set, but the Bears scored four of the next five points to take a 7-6 lead. MSU used a 4-0 run to increase the lead to 11-7 and three-straight points to push it to 17-12. Kills from
Katy Dudzinski and Brown cut the lead to 20-16, but that was as close as the Shockers would get as MSU won the set 25-20.
WSU raced out to a 4-0 lead in the third set after back-to-back service aces from
Gabi Mostrom. A kill from Raudsepp increased the lead to 6-1 and a Hiebert kill made it 12-5. A block by Hiebert and Lehman put the Shockers up 20-11 and WSU won the set 25-12 on another kill from Hiebert.
The Bears grabbed an early 9-4 lead in the fourth set. Two-straight kills from Raudsepp pulled the Shockers within 16-12, but the Bears went on to win the set 25-21.
A Dudzinksi kill gave WSU a quick 4-0 lead in the fifth set. Kills from Lehman, Brown and Larson pushed the lead to 7-1. The Bears used two-straight kills to pull within 12-8, but the Shockers used a kill from Brown and block from Raudsepp to win the set 15-10.
The Shockers are next in action on Mon., Sept. 26 when they host Evansville at 7 p.m. at Charles Koch Arena.
