COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri won the first 10 points of the match and defeated Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in straight sets Saturday evening.

The Cougars, 2-6, made it more than respectable after the first set but lost to Missouri 25-8, 25-21, 25-22. Missouri improved to 7-6 overall. 

SIUE right side hitter Sydney Winslow led all players with 15 kills. Winslow hit .242 for the match. 

"Sydney played a great match," said SIUE coach Todd Gober. 

SIUE was held to a .112 hitting percentage for the match. Missouri countered with a .310 hitting percentage, including hitting .500 in the opening set. 

Missouri reeled off 10 points to start the match and used a balanced attack to defeat the Cougars. Julianna Klein led the Tigers with 11 kills followed by nine from Amanda Hantouli and eight from Weiwen Wang. 

The Cougars rebounded from the first set and kept both sets two and three close. Missouri started to slip past SIUE after the second set was tied 14-14. SIUE held an 11-7 lead in the third set only to have Missouri take over again when the set was tied 14-14 again. 

Gober said his team achieved the goal of playing better since the match at Illinois. 

"What I'm taking away from this is that we got better as the match went on," said Gober. 

The Tigers' opening point was a service ace by Megan Wilson. Missouri finished with eight service aces for the match. 

The Cougars have now lost four straight matches and will next head to Chicago to play Loyola Tuesday at 7 p.m. 

                  -siue cougars-