JOPLIN, Mo. — Missouri Southern State (7-14, 2-7 Mid-America Intercollegiate) lost to No. 13 Emporia State (20-3, 5-2 Mid-America Intercollegiate) 3-1 on Friday. Missouri Southern took the opening set 29-27 before dropping the next three 17-25, 21-25, 13-25.
Addysen Alvis scored 19 points behind 17 kills, six digs and two blocks.
Grace Gardner finished with 14 kills, 11 digs and three assists.
Abby Morris recorded 37 assists, six digs and a service ace.
Kasey Goldberg collected 14 digs and added a service ace.
MSSU took the opening set in extra points, winning four of the final five rallies after Emporia St. moved ahead 26-25. Earlier, the Lions turned a 4-4 tie into an 8-4 lead with an
Ella Breazeale kill, an Emporia St. error, an
Addysen Alvis kill and an Alvis block, then later pushed the lead to 13-7 behind more Alvis offense and a
Kenzie Jones block. Alvis and Gardner each recorded seven kills in the set, and Southern reached 24-22 on
Kasey Goldberg's service ace before Emporia St. scored the next three points. Gardner answered with a kill to tie the score at 25-25, Missouri Southern pulled level again at 26-26 on an Emporia St. attack error, and Alvis put MSSU ahead twice before Jones closed the 29-27 set with a kill.
The Lions were put under pressure by Emporia St.'s early scoring stretches in the second set, as the visitors turned a 4-3 edge into 9-3 and later moved ahead 14-5 before closing out a 25-17 set.
Addysen Alvis and Gardner provided the early offense for Missouri Southern, with Alvis recording the team's first point off a Gardner assist and Gardner adding two kills from Morris.
Tiana Simmons helped MSSU answer in the middle and late stages with four kills and a block, while
Reagan Ashby added service aces that made it 9-5 and 21-14. Southern continued to get points from Alvis,
Ella Breazeale and Jones down the stretch, but Emporia St. reached set point at 24-17 and finished the set on the next rally.
Missouri Southern opened the third set with Morris serving four straight points for a 4-0 lead, a start that included a Jones block, Morris ace and an
Addysen Alvis kill from Morris. The Lions kept building through the middle of the set, getting kills from
Tiana Simmons,
Ella Breazeale, Gardner and Alvis before another Morris service stretch helped push the score to 15-9. Southern still led 19-16 after a Simmons kill, but Emporia St. answered with three straight points to tie the set at 19-19. Gardner put MSSU back ahead at 20-19, and Jones later tied it at 21-21, but Emporia St. scored the final four points to take the set 25-21.
Missouri Southern faced an early deficit in the fourth set, as Emporia St. scored the first six points before Jones put the home side on the board with a kill from Morris. The Lions were down 14-3 before answering with their strongest stretch of the set, winning six straight points to get to 14-9.
Addysen Alvis delivered three kills during that surge, each assisted by
Brenna Weaver, while
Reagan Ashby's serve helped MSSU pile up five straight service points. Emporia St. regained control after the run, and although
Tiana Simmons added late kills for Southern, the visitors closed out the set 25-13.
