SPRINGFIELD -- Missouri State suffered its first loss of the Missouri Valley Conference volleyball season Saturday evening as visiting Illinois State won a 26-24, 25-16, 25-20 decision at Hammons Student Center. The Redbirds (8-5, 2-0) became the first team in the league with two wins after a rare sweep of the MSU/Wichita State trip, while the Bears fell to 7-6 overall and 1-1 in MVC play.

The first set featured 16 ties and the Bears seemingly had control after Lily Johnson's eighth kill of the period and an ISU attack error handed Missouri State a 23-21 lead. The Redbirds countered with a block and two kills for a set point at 24-23, and Lynsey Wright hammered a kill to tie the score at 24-all. Illinois State finished with consecutive kills for the 26-24 win.

Fast starts helped the Redbirds claim the remaining two sets as the visitors bolted to an 8-2 lead in the second set and 8-3 advantage in the third. ISU recorded five blocks in the second period and limited the Bears to nine kills against nine errors, and piled up 19 kills in the third stanza while maintaining at least a three-point lead for the duration of the set after the early run.

Johnson led all players with 17 kills and hit .239, but no other MSU player had more than seven kills as the Redbirds held a 49-35 lead in that category. ISU also led in digs (65-48), hitting percentage (.272-.118) and blocks (7-3). Maddy Hogan paced MSU with 18 digs.

Missouri State heads to the Windy City on Sept. 26 for a 7 p.m. match at Loyola (5-6, 1-1).

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