After coming off a loss to Illinois State, the Shockers defeated the Missouri State Bears 3-1 in a four set match with scores of 25-23, 23-25, 25-17 and 25-17.

“In the last four matches, they went 4-0 and we went 2-2,” Wichita State coach Chris Lamb said. “We beat a hot team, a good team, a well-coached team.” 

Sporting pink jerseys for the annual “Dig Pink” game to support Breast Cancer Awareness, WSU jumped ahead of the Bears in the first set 8-4. MSU fought back with consecutive kills to tie the game. 

After a neck-and-neck rally for points, senior Emily Adney nailed the game point, winning it for the Shockers. Adney and junior Elizabeth Field had five kills each, while junior Chelsey Feekin led with 11 assists. 

The Shockers fell short in set two when MSU pulled ahead first with several kills by the Bears’ outside hitter, Olivia Brand. MSU managed to stay at least two points ahead until striking two balls out of bounds, tying the game at 21. WSU snuck past with a point by freshman Ashlyn Driskell and another error on MSU, pushing the Shockers to 23-21. That was not enough to keep the Shockers from falling 25-23 against Missouri State at the end of set two. 

Shaking the loss off, WSU came off the bench with a 16-10 lead over the Bears, thanks to several kills by Elizabeth Field who would go on to match her career-high of 19 kills in a match. MSU fought back with a 4-0 run, leading to trail the Shockers 16-14. WSU shut the Bears down with two kills from junior Ashley Andrade, then one each from Adney, Feekin and freshman Katie Reilly. The Shockers won the set, putting them up 2-1 in the match. 

“I think Chelsey and I were connecting very well. She was setting me great balls and doing very well in transition,” Field said. “We’re working very hard at getting a good hand on the ball.”

“I’m really proud of the adjustments that we’ve made defensively, the adjustments we made to our wheel, our rotation and we were able to compete,” Lamb said. “We had to roll the dice and try to prepare for a few things we didn’t have time to prepare for last week, and I think a good part of that worked out.”

The fourth and last set of the evening looked good for the Shockers who broke an early 4-0 lead. Reilly had a team-high of five kills for WSU, pushing them to stay a few points ahead of the Bears for the whole set. The Shockers won 25-17, averaging 15 kills a game. 

Adney led the team in total attempts and Field met her career-high in kills, finishing with 19. 

“This, in a lot of ways is the most important win of the year,” Lamb said. “This had to happen.”

The Shockers meet No. 1 ranked Creighton at 7 p.m., Nov. 16 at Charles Koch Arena.