Missouri State’s Sam Brinkmann and Mikaela Mosquera teamed up to become the first victorious pair in MSU beach volleyball history, and the Bears went the distance in two more flights in a 4-1 loss at Nebraska Friday afternoon in the program’s inaugural match.
Brinkmann and Mosquera rallied in the No. 4 match after dropping the first set, winning 21-17 and 17-15 to even the team score at 1-1 in a contest that was played sequentially from the No. 5 pair to the top spot.
“I’m very proud of our program today playing our first match against the reigning indoor champs,” head coach Terri Del Conte said after the contest. “We fought hard. We had to make a last-minute lineup change due to injury and I thought we were resilient. Today gave us great insight on how far we’ve come and how far we can still go together.”
The Bears dropped a heart-breaker in the third slot, taking the first set before falling in extra time in the second and 15-11 in the third. The Cornhuskers, whose full 10-player lineup featured nine members of the 2017 national championship indoor squad, again needed to go beyond 21 points to dispatch the Bears in the second set of a sweep in the No. 2 match.
MSU’s top duo of Taylor Fricano and Veronica Snelling won the first set in their match before dropping the last two against the Nebraska pair that included 2017 indoor national player of the year Kelly Hunter.
Missouri State returns to action March 12 with matches against Long Beach State and Colorado Mesa in Long Beach, Calif. That begins a stretch of 11 matches in six days in the Los Angeles area over Spring Break.
Match Results:
No. 1 – Kelly Hunter/Lauren Stivrins (NU) def. Taylor Fricano/Veronica Snelling (MSU), 17-21, 21-13, 15-8
No. 2 – Annika Albrecht/Kenzie Maloney (NU) def. Aubrey Cheffey/Julia Hanson (MSU) 21-18, 22-20
No. 3 – Jazz Sweet/Sami Slaughter (NU) def. Sarah Demmer/Maddie Back (MSU) 22-24, 26-24, 15-11
No. 4 – Mikaela Mosquera/Sam Brinkmann (MSU) def. Chesney McClellan/Hayley Densberger (NU), 17-21, 21-17, 17-15
No. 5 – Jasmine Schmidt/Allie Havers (NU) def. Lynsey Wright/Ivy Reynolds (MSU) 21-12, 21-11
Order of finish: 5,4,3,2,1
