The Missouri State volleyball team continued the hot start to its conference season Friday evening with a 3-0 (30-17, 30-22, 30-20) sweep of Bradley at Hammons Student Center, improving to 10-2 overall and 3-0 in the league for the first time since 2003. Bradley fell to 3-9 overall and 0-2 in the Valley with the loss.

The Bears took control from the opening serve, holding Bradley to a -.107 attack percentage in the 30-17 win. MSU turned on the offense in the second period, hitting .343 (17-5-35). Senior Erin O’Connor had seven kills in the frame and freshman Shanda Harper added four, while Katelyn Panzau dished out 15 of her 39 assists to help the Bears to the 2-0 match lead.

Missouri State would cruise to the game three win, 30-20, but the story was Panzau guiding the Bears from a 2-2 tie to a 10-2 lead with stellar serving. The junior had four aces in the eight-point run, five in game three alone and eight for the entire match.

Panzau’s terrific night at the service line will go down as one of the best in Missouri State history. Her eight aces have been matched twice but not bested since 1993 when Karlin Sander served up a school-record 12 aces against Tulsa.

O’Connor was the only Bear to reach double figures in kills, finishing with 13 on .250 hitting. Sarah Lansing added nine kills on 15 swings to go with five blocks, and Sara Thomas chipped in seven putaways on .400 hitting along with nine digs. Adeana McAfee paced the defensive effort with 18 digs.

Missouri State blocked seven balls in the match, but held the Braves to just two stuffs in the contest.

The Bears take on preseason MVC favorite Northern Iowa (9-6, 1-1) at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon inside Hammons Student Center. UNI was swept at Wichita State on Friday night.