Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Bradley held a two sets to one lead and was looking for its first victory at Missouri State since the 1999 season, but the Bears rallied to take the final two sets and top the Braves 23-25, 25-11, 16-25, 25-15, 15-11 Friday at the Hammons Student Center.
Junior Annie Cave (Easton, Ill./Illini Central) tied a career-high with 16 kills to lead Bradley offensively and was one of four BU players to reach double figures in kills. Junior Rachelle Dejean (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) matched her season-best with 25 digs and moved into 10th on BU's career digs list, passing Stacy Besjak.
The Braves (8-22 overall, 3-14 MVC) never trailed in the opening set and managed to take the first set 25-23, despite Missouri State boasting a .314 hitting percentage in the frame. A Missouri State service error put Bradley in front 24-23 and junior Megan Schmidt (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) tallied one of her 11 kills on the night to close out a 25-23 BU win.
Missouri State (21-7 overall, 12-5 MVC) scored the first six points of the second set and never looked back as the Bears evened the match with a 25-11 win. MSU collected 20 kills on 36 attack attempts for a .556 hitting percentage in the second set.
Bradley trailed 6-5 in the third set when freshman Amy Angelos (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) had two kills and two blocks to open a 12-2 BU spurt to put the Braves in front 17-8. Angelos finished with three kills and three blocks in the third set to help power BU to a 25-16 win. The Braves hit .378 in the third set, while limiting Missouri State to a .108 attack percentage.
Missouri State held a 16-14 advantage in the fourth set when Megan Bess tallied four of her seven kills in the frame during a 9-1 MSU run and the Bears also served up a pair of aces to force a deciding fifth set with a 25-15 win. Cave collected seven of her team-best 16 kills in the fourth set, but MSU hit .481 in the frame to cruise to the win.
The Braves never led in the fifth set, but rallied to pull to within one point at 10-9 after a kill by Cave. Bess answered with a kill of her own and a BU attack error pushed Missouri State's lead to 12-9. Sophomore Madelyn Ervin (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy) found the floor with her 10th kill of the night, but Bess followed a Bradley service error with her match-high 24th kill to give MSU match point at 14-10. After a Braves kill by Schmidt, Shayla Patrick closed out the match with a kill to put the finishing touches on a 15-11 MSU win as the Bears rallied from a two-sets-to-one deficit.
Bradley hit .237 in the match, compared to .357 for Missouri State and the Bears held a 76-59 edge in digs on the night. Schmidt joined Cave in double figures in kills with 11, while freshman Amy Angelos collected 10 kills and a match-high five blocks. Ervin had two aces to go along with 10 kills and hit .304.
Bess led Missouri State with 24 kills, while attacking at a .488 clip. Calli Norman chipped in with 15 kills and Kelley Michnowicz added 12 kills while hitting .409 to help lead the Bears, who head into the final match of the regular-season tied with Creighton for third in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.
Bradley closes out the 2010 season Saturday with a 7 p.m. match at Wichita State.
