Final Stats

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Missouri State volleyball team battled five sets at Indiana State Friday, coming away with a 3-2 (20-25, 25-14, 25-23, 19-25, 15-11) win over the Sycamores at ISU Arena.

Lily Johnson led the Bears (15-7, 6-3 Missouri Valley Conference) with 25 kills on a .312 attack percentage, while freshman Ashley Ophoven added 15 kills and Lauren Boone hit .423 with a career-high 12 kills. The Sycamores fell to 14-11 overall and 3-7 in Valley play.

The fifth set was tied at each point to 6-6 before the Bears took control with a 7-0 run that featured a pair of Tatum Marshall aces and Johnson's 24th kill of the match for a 13-7 lead. ISU's late 3-0 run was not enough as Johnson added another kill for the win.

The Sycamores hit .355 and used a 9-2 run midway through the first set to strike the first blow in the match, but the Bears responded with 14 kills on a blistering .565 team hitting percentage in the second period to even the score.

Boone played a huge role for the Bears in the third set, teaming with Simone House for a block and 10-all tie after MSU trailed 6-2, and hitting back-to-back kills to spark a 6-1 run for an 18-13 lead. The Sycamores battled back to even the score at 23-23, but Boone's kill answered for a 24-23 lead and ISU missed on its next attack to hand the Bears the win.

Indiana State opened the fourth set on a 4-0 run, and the Bears never led despite forcing three ties as the Sycamores pulled away from an 11-all deadlock with a 6-1 run to force a fifth set.

Missouri State hit .262 compared to .219 for ISU, and the teams finished within two kills and one dig of each on the final stat sheet. The Bears held an 11-5 lead in blocking thanks to five apiece from House and Lynsey Wright, while Marshall served three aces. Kinsey Batten handed out 56 assists and shared high dig honors with Emily Butters at 13 each.

The Bears visit Illinois State (16-7, 6-4) at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Redbirds lost 3-2 to Wichita State on Friday.