MARYVILLE, Mo. - The Truman volleyball team was on the road once again Tuesday night, this time at No. 22-ranked Northwest Missouri State. The Bearcats took down the Bulldogs in straight sets with scores of 25-19, 25-23 and 25-20.

With the win, Northwest Missouri State improved to 12-0 while Truman dropped to 2-9 on the season. The Bulldogs were led by Lacey Hill (five kills), Savvy Hughes (nine assists), Holly Hildebrand (four blocks), Natalie Brimeyer (four blocks), and Kayla Bastian (15 digs). This marked Truman's fifth match of the year against a top-25 opponent and seventh against a team including those in the "others receiving votes" category.

For the first 20 points scored in the first set, neither team scored more than two points in a row, there were five ties, two lead changes, and it was deadlocked at 10-10. However, after that, the home team scored three straight, the deficit was never smaller than two again and at one point, the Bearcats rattled off six points in a row to go up 23-15. The second set would just see the hosts gain even more momentum.

Truman led the set early, 6-4, but Northwest Missouri State used a 12-3 spurt to take a 16-9 advantage. The Bulldogs fought valliently, though, scoring seven of the next eight points to pull within one, 17-16. Truman had the margin at one two more times (21-20 and 24-23), but the Bearcats hung tough to take a two sets to none lead.

The third set was the tightest of them all as it saw nine ties and four lead changes, the latest of those standstills coming at 19-19. After that, Northwest Missouri State registered six of the final seven points to win the set and the match. That was the Bearcats' best offensive effort of the night as they hit .188 compared to the Bulldogs' clip of .098.

Next up, Truman will finally make its 2016 home debut on Friday against Southern Indiana with first serve scheduled for 7 p.m. inside Pershing Arena. Live stats and streaming on the GLVCSN will both be available right here at TrumanBulldogs.com.