Final Stats

SPRINGFIELD -- Missouri State hit .328 as a team Friday and .361 or better in each of its winning sets during a 3-1 (25-14, 25-22, 19-25, 25-16) win against UNI at Hammons Student Center.

Lily Johnson led the Bears (17-9, 8-5 Missouri Valley Conference) with 20 kills and 11 digs, hitting .413 with only one error in 46 attempts. Lynsey Wright added 11 kills and five blocks, and Simone House finished with eight kills and no errors. Ashley Ophoven also posted eight kills, becoming the 14th freshman in school history with 200 in a season.

The Bears came out firing in the first set, leading 10-6 on an Ophoven kill and getting three kills from Johnson during a 4-0 run to a 14-9 advantage. Johnson added two aces in a 5-0 run to 21-11 as MSU hit .400 in the set and took advantage of 11 UNI attack errors.

MSU hit .424 in the second set but was unable to put away the scrappy Panthers (15-12, 9-5). Kinsey Batten put MSU ahead 19-15 with back-to-back blocks, and UNI countered to pull within a point on three occasions, the last at 21-20. House put the Bears up 23-20 with a kill, and the teams sided out until Wright's kill finished off the 25-22 win.

The third set was tied at each point to 10-10, and the Bears led 13-11 before UNI used a 9-1 run to lead 20-14 and extend the match.

Wright took over for the Bears in the fourth, hitting .750 in the period with six kills and two blocks. MSU scored the first two points of the set and never trailed, taking leads of 16-9 and 18-10 on Wright kills before the sophomore added two blocks during a 4-0 run to 22-13. Johnson kills accounted for Missouri State's final three points as she reached 20 kills for the 12th time this season.

Each team finished with 55 kills, but UNI committed 31 errors compared to 10 for the Bears. Emily Butters led MSU with 22 digs, and Batten handed out 48 assists.

MSU hosts Drake (14-17, 5-9) at 7 p.m. Saturday.