CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Missouri State won its 16th consecutive match and clinched the outright Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship Saturday evening with a thrilling 3-2 victory at Southern Illinois.

A night after securing a share of the MVC title and the No. 1 seed at next week's MVC Tournament, the Bears (25-7, 16-2) set a school record with their 16th consecutive MVC win, topping the Salukis (21-11, 12-6) by set scores of 25-20, 25-19, 22-25, 14-25 and 15-13 to finish off the school's fourth regular season MVC championship.

The Bears' offense sizzled through the first two sets with a .364 hitting percentage in building a 2-0 lead. SIU turned up its defense over the next two periods, limiting MSU to 24 kills against 16 errors to force a deciding fifth set.

Missouri State did not trail in the fifth set until a 3-0 run by the Salukis put the home team ahead 9-8, and another 3-0 SIU run made it 12-10 as time began to run out. It was 13-11 when the Bears showed their championship mettle, beginning with a Lynsey Wright kill followed by an SIU error for a 13-13 tie. Daniele Messa followed with an ace, and Lauren Boone finished off the closing 4-0 run with a kill for the two-point win.

Lily Johnson led MSU with 21 kills, moving up two spots to ninth place on the Valley's career kills list, and Wright added 17 kills. Brianne Dixon equaled her career high with 16 digs, and Messa had 16 digs to go with her 47 assists.

The Bears hit .208 compared to .186 for SIU, and led 63-54 in total kills while trailing in blocking (12-6) and service aces (6-5).

MSU begins MVC Tournament play at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25 against either No. 4 SIU or fifth-seeded Illinois State. The opposite side of the bracket includes No. 2 Wichita State, third-seeded and host UNI, and No. 6 Loyola.