NORMAL, Ill. -- Missouri State's Lily Johnson, Lynsey Wright and Cambree Villarreal combined for 52 kills to help the volleyball Bears rally from a 2-1 deficit to grab a 3-2 Missouri Valley Conference win over Illinois State at Redbird Arena.

The Bears (15-7, 6-2) extended their winning streak to six matches by set scores of 20-25, 25-19, 18-25, 25-20, 15-11, and remained one match back of first-place Wichita State in the standings before hitting the halfway mark of the league schedule Saturday at 6 p.m. at Indiana State. Illinois State fell to 12-8 and 5-3 in MVC play.

Wright played a pivotal role in forcing a fifth set with seven kills and two blocks in the fourth. She accounted for all of the scoring in a 5-0 run that put the Bears ahead 12-7, and the Redbirds pulled within a point on three occasions after that but were unable to tie before the Bears closed on a 4-0 run.

Missouri State never trailed in the fifth set, scoring the first two points and building a 7-4 lead. The teams traded 2-0 runs to a 9-6 score, and sided out to 14-11 when the Redbirds missed an attack to hand the Bears the match. 

The Redbirds took the first and third sets in nearly identical fashion, building early three-point leads in each before the Bears went ahead at the 12-point mark. Big ISU runs swung each set in favor of the home team, a 7-0 spurt in the first period for a 24-17 lead and a 6-0 run in the third for a 20-14 advantage.

The second set featured several wild momentum swings, as the Bears jumped out to a 9-2 lead only to see the Redbirds counter with a tying 7-0 run. The Bears answered with a 6-0 spurt that included two kills apiece from Simone House and Johnson, and ISU got no closer than two points after that as Johnson landed three of her eight kills in the set in succession to close the period.

Johnson finished the match with 25 kills and 12 digs, Wright had 16 kills on .414 hitting and Villarreal added 11 kills against one error. Emily Butters scooped 22 digs and Brianne Dixon added a career-high 16, while Daniele Messa equaled a season high with 54 assists.

MSU owned a 68-64 lead in kills, while Illinois State held slight advantages in hitting percentage (.226-.218), digs (87-83), aces (6-5) and blocks (8-5).