The Missouri State volleyball team got back in the win column Friday evening by defeating a scrappy North Carolina-Asheville team 30-24, 30-17 and 30-23 at the Comfort Inns & Suites Challenge in Chattanooga, Tenn.

MSU improved to 6-2 with the victory while the Bulldogs fell to 1-6.

The Bears’ offense was keyed by solid passing all match, with Nikki Vandepopulier and Cara Hackmann setting things up with 19 and 12 digs, respectively.

Senior Sara Thomas rolled up 15 kills against two errors to hit .433 for the contest, and Sara Staubach added 10 kills of her own and hit .269. Shayla Patrick anchored the middle with six kills and no errors, and helped the Bears to nine team blocks.

The Bears play two matches in Chattanooga Saturday, facing Tennessee Tech at 9 a.m. and host UTC at 4:30 p.m.

Due to technical difficulties at the tournament site, complete statistics will be unavailable until Saturday.