SPRINGFIELD, Mo.—McNeese volleyball couldn't find an answer for Missouri State All-American Lily Johnson and a powerful Bears offense in its straight set loss (25-17, 25-17, 25-15) here Thursday night in the opening match of the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational.
 
Johnson led all players with a match high 17 kills and 14 digs. Lynsey Wright tallied 15 kills and Daniele Messa dished out 29 assists for the Bears. As a team, Missouri State ended the match with a .346 attack percent.
 
Junior Rae Myers, a native of Springfield, Missouri returned to her hometown and picked up where she left off in the win over UL-Lafayette on Tuesday. Myers and freshman Keegan Nelms both recorded seven kills apiece to lead McNeese. Bridget Justis, also a Missouri native led the Cowgirls with eight digs while Adison Giambrone and Alexandra Aguilera both had six. Aguilera was also credited with 22 assists.
 
Missouri State (4-3) hit .419 in the opening set and Johnson who was a member of the 2016 USA Collegiate National Team, hit a scorching .600 on seven kills in 10 attempts with one hitting error to lead the Bears to the 25-17 first set victory.
 
McNeese (2-7) got off to a fast start in set two and opened up a 4-1 lead. After the Bears scored three straight points to tie the set at four all, the Cowgirls scored the next three points on a kill by Myers and two Bear errors for a 7-4 lead.
 
With the set tied at 10 all, Missouri State outscored McNeese 5-1 to take a 15-11 lead. McNeese got as close as three points (17-14) on two kills by Myers and a block assists by Haley Schneider and Hailee Showers. McNeese got within three points again at 18-15 before Missouri State went on to outscore the Cowgirls 7-2 to take the second set 25-17.
 
Missouri State was the team that got off to a fast start in the third set, taking a 4-1 lead. McNeese answered with three straight points to tie the set at four apiece on a kill by Myers and two Bear errors. The Cowgirls managed to tie the set early on but the Bears' offense was just too much. McNeese got as close as 15-10 but Missouri State scored seven unanswered points to extend its lead to 22-10. The Cowgirls would go on a run of its own but could only get as close as 23-14 before dropping the set 25-15 and the match.
 
McNeese will continue play with a 3 p.m. match against Western Illinois Friday. The Cowgirls will play Wisconsin-Green Bay at 10 a.m. and IUPUI at 2 p.m. Saturday.