Final Stats

MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- Missouri State hit .308 as a team and got a career-high 11 kills from junior Simone House on Friday in a 3-0 victory over Southern Conference-favorite Furman. The Bears won by set scores of 27-25, 25-23, 25-20 in the season opener for both schools at the Pepsi Panther Invitational.

House hit .625 to pace an MSU offense that piled up 55 kills in the three sets. Sophomore All-American Lily Johnson led all players with 15 kills and became the fastest player in school history to reach 500 in a career, doing so in her 33rd career match. Lynsey Wright added nine kills and freshman Ashley Ophoven had seven off the bench as senior setter Kinsey Batten dished out 42 assists and had 10 digs for the double-double.

The Bears notched kills on seven of their first nine swings to build an early 9-4 lead in the first set, and maintained their hitting percentage above .500 to a 12-8 score before Furman pulled to 12-11. A Johnson kill swung the momentum back to MSU and Tatum Marshall's ace put the Bears ahead 22-18 before the Paladins made a run to gain set point at 25-24. House answered with a kill and a block for 26-25, and Furman missed on its final attack to hand MSU the win.

Missouri State trailed the second set 15-8, but stole the victory thanks to a late 7-0 run. Ophoven slammed four kills, Marshall served another ace, and Wright and Batten teamed up for a pair of blocks as the Bears grabbed the 23-22 lead. The Paladins tied at 23-all before Ophoven and Wright hit kills for the 25-23 victory.

Back-to-back kills from Johnson helped Missouri State overcome a 3-0 deficit in the third period with a 6-4 lead, and the Bears never trailed for the remainder of the period. MSU went ahead 13-8 thanks to a 5-0 run that included two kills and a block from House followed by consecutive Johnson aces, but the Paladins battled back to tie the score three times, the last at 19-19. The Bears then closed the match on a 4-0 run for the sweep.

Johnson and Marshall evenly shared MSU's six service aces, and freshman Emily Butters had 17 digs to help the Bears hold a 49-41 lead in that category. Each team had seven blocks.

The Bears play two matches on Saturday, facing Western Michigan at 10:30 a.m. and Milwaukee at 7:30 p.m.