SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Missouri State volleyball team never trailed Illinois State Saturday night on the way to a 25-22, 25-22, 25-19 Missouri Valley Conference win over the Redbirds at Hammons Student Center.

    The Bears (11-3, 3-1) grabbed early leads in every set and fended off late ISU (11-5, 1-2) charges each time, watching the visitors come back to tie in the closing stages of sets one and two but never relinquishing the lead.

    Missouri State held a 12-7 lead in the first period and the Redbirds fought back to tie at each point from 17 to 20 before Bethany Fuller got a kill and teamed up with Shayla Patrick for a block that gave MSU the lead for good. The Bears hit .314 in the set, with five kills from Christine McCartney and four on five swings from Kelley Michnowicz.

    The Bears again led by five in the second at 15-10 only to see the Redbirds go on a 4-0 run to tie at 19-19. The score was tied at each point to 22 when ISU committed two errors and Michnowicz and Calli Norman stuffed a Shannon McGlaughlin attack for the win.

    MSU opened the third set on a 5-1 run and pushed the advantage to 13-8 when the Redbirds fought back to pull within a point on two occasions, the latest at 17-16. The Bears responded with a 3-0 run to for a 20-16 lead and scored the final four points to clinch the match.

    McCartney led the Bears with 13 kills, while Norman added 10 on .318 hitting with five blocks, and Michnowicz had nine kills and hit .471.

    Abby Padlock led all players with 20 digs and Cara Hackmann had 13. Melissa Gmur served both of MSU’s aces.

    The Bears play their final non-conference match of the regular season at 7 p.m. Tuesday with a trip to SIU Edwardsville.