The Missouri State volleyball team reached the 20-win mark for the ninth consecutive season Friday with a 30-20, 30-24, 30-24 sweep of Missouri Valley Conference foe Illinois State at Hammons Student Center in Springfield.

The Bears (20-3, 9-1 MVC) improved offensively each game and ended the match with a .265 hitting figure, while the defense blocked 12 Illinois State (14-7, 6-4) attacks and held the Redbirds to .132 hitting.

The outside hitting combination of Jamie Adams and Sara Staubach dominated all match for MSU, including a total of 13 kills on .333 hitting in the first game. The Bears and Redbirds were tied at 8-8 early in the opening game before MSU went on a 7-2 run to reach the midway point with a 15-10 lead and then pulled away from there. The Bears also blocked five balls in game one.

Missouri State led by as many as seven at 14-7 in game two, but Illinois State climbed back to tie it at 22-22. MSU went on a 3-0 run from there and closed the game by winning eight of the final 10 points. MSU hit .298 in the game, and got another five blocks on the defensive side, with freshman Cara Hackmann stuffing four of her career-best six in game two.

Game three was tight early until the Bears pulled out to a five-point advantage at 24-19. ISU answered with a 4-0 run to get within one at 24-23, but MSU responded with a 5-0 run to get to match point before Sara Thomas put away the final kill. Missouri State slammed 22 kills in game three to hit .302, and Katelyn Panzau handed out 18 of her 39 assists in the final game.

Adams totaled 16 kills in the match against three errors for a .302 hitting percentage, and Staubach hit .283 with 15 kills and only two errors.

Defensively, the Bears finished with 85 digs and six players had at least nine. Hackmann had a team-high 21 and Terri Del Conte pitched in 20, while Nikki Vandepopulier (12) and Panzau (11) also reached double figures. Thomas joined Hackmann for the team lead with six blocks.

Thomas had nine digs and became the 17th player in school history to reach 1,000 digs for her career early in game two. She also had 10 kills and eight assists to finish just shy of a triple-double.

The Bears host Indiana State (3-15, 0-10) at 7 p.m. Saturday.