(Peru, Neb.) – Despite falling to Missouri Valley College in the final regular season game of the year, the Peru State Bobcat volleyball team will be in the Heart of America Athletic Conference post-season tournament.
 
While playing in Marshall, Mo., on Tuesday night, Peru State dropped the first two sets 25-22 and 25-15 before winning the third set 25-21.  However, the Vikings took the fourth set, 25-19, to win the game.
 
With the win, Mo Valley improved to 20-14 overall and 4-5 in conference play.  Peru State fell to 24-13 and 3-6 in conference action.
 
Game Action
 
The first set was close throughout with the Vikings having four-point leads at 9-5 and 18-14, but Peru State kept coming back.  The 'Cats tied it at 18-18 on an attack error on Mo Valley.  The Vikings did increase their lead to four again at 23-19, before Rian Kirby (Gretna) stopped their run with a kill on an assist from Courtney Jurek (Bellevue).  Mo Valley did score a point to make it 24-20 and the Bobcats did stave off set point with a kill by Lea Boras (Makarska, Croatia) on an assist from Jurek, followed by a Viking error, making it 24-22.  However, Missouri Valley got a kill to end the first set.

 
Mo Valley never trailed in the second set having jumped out to a 4-0 advantage and pulled away from that point for an easy second set win.
 
In the third set, it was close throughout early before the Bobcats before surging to an eight-point advantage at 22-14.  The Vikings made a comeback effort as they closed the gap to 23-21 before Bre Brandt (Papillion) had a kill on an assist from Meg Grose (Peoria, Ariz.).   The set ended on a setter dump by Jurek for the Bobcat win.
 
Again in the fourth set, the Vikings jumped to an early 5-0 lead and never trailed.  The closest Peru State was in the fourth set came at 19-17 after Brandt had a kill from Grose. 
 
Statistics
 
The team was held to a .099 hitting percentage on the night as Missouri Valley kept the ball in play.
 
Brandt led the Bobcats with 11 kills while Kirby and Carrie Lierz (Holton, Kan.) each had eight kills.  Lierz finished with a team-high .353 hitting percentage.
 
Grose and Jurek led the team in assists with 18 and 15 respectively.  In addition, they each had one service ace.
 
Mallory Hull (Morse Bluff) led all players with 20 digs.  Jurek and Brandt each added eight digs.
 
Peru State did not record any solo blocks, but had 16 block assists.  Nicole Soifua (West Point, Utah) led the team with five block assists while Cristal Quinonez (Anthony, N.M.) added three.  Jennifer Ostrowski (Kankakee, Ill.), Rachael West (El Dorado, Kan.), and Grose each added two block assists while Boras and Brandt each finished with one.

MISSOURI VALLEY BOX SCORE
 
Upcoming Game(s)
 
After the end of the conference and regular season, Peru State will be playing in the Heart tournament on Saturday, Nov. 8.  The Bobcats finished as the eighth seed and will face MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kan., at 7 p.m.  The Pioneers finished the regular season 18-13 overall and 7-2, tying them for the conference regular season title with Evangel University.  However, the Pioneers beat Evangel in the regular season, thus giving them the number one seed.
 
Earlier in the season, the Pioneers did beat the Bobcats on Peru State's home court tight game 25-23, 18-25, 25-23, 25-18. 
 
With a win, the 'Cats would play on Wednesday, Nov. 12, on the road against either Culver-Stockton College or Baker University.