NORMAL, Ill. -- Lily Johnson became the Missouri Valley's Conference's all-time kills leader, and Missouri State overcame a slow start for a 3-2 (17-25, 25-13, 26-24, 14-25, 15-11) victory over Illinois State Friday in the league opener for both schools at Redbird Arena.

Johnson passed former Bradley star Lindsay Stalzer with her fourth kill of the match, and eventually ended the night with 1,965 career kills, leading all players with 20 winners for her 40th career match of at least 20 kills.

The Bears (9-5, 1-0 MVC) got several other standout individual performances in their 17th consecutive regular season conference win, with Daniele Messa finishing with 51 assists and 23 digs for the second 50/20 match of her career and 18th in school history, and Emily Butters matching her career high of 30 digs set one week ago. Lynsey Wright added 14 kills and Lauren Boone had 10, each hitting .333.

After recording more errors than kills in the fourth set, the Bears' offense shifted gears in the fifth with 12 kills and no errors on 30 swings. MSU took the lead for good on a Wright kill for 4-3, and made it 9-5 on a Johnson winner. The Redbirds (7-7, 0-1) twice closed within a point before Johnson fired two kills around another from Boone to make it 13-9, and the teams sided out until Wright scored the winner.

Illinois State, in its first year under head coach and MSU volleyball alum Leah Johnson, looked primed for the upset after hitting .545 in the first set with 19 kills, as the Bears got no closer than 21-16 after a 4-0 run that included Johnson's record kill.  

MSU's three senior hitters took over in the second set, with Johnson (5), Boone (5) and Wright (3) combing for 13 kills as the Bears hit .389 as a team and did not commit an error until the score was 20-9. The Bears never trailed, scoring the first two points and leading by double-digits as early as 17-7 while limiting the Redbirds to seven total kills.

While there were no ties or lead changes in either of the first two sets, the score was tied 11 times in the third period while the lead changed hands on five occasions, the last when an Illinois State error made it 15-14 Bears. Missouri State gained the largest lead for either side at 21-16 when Brianne Dixon's ace capped a 4-0 run. The Redbirds fought off three set points for a 24-24 tie before Cambree Villarreal swatted back-to-back kills for the MSU win. 

The Redbirds held slight leads in most statistical categories despite MSU logging 103 digs, its first time in triple figures since the 2014 season finale. Dixon matched her career high with 16 of those, while Johnson added 17 to surpass 1,300 for her career and move up three spots to seventh on Missouri State's career list.

The Bears return to action Saturday with a 7 p.m. match at Bradley. The Braves (7-8, 0-1) lost 3-1 to Southern Illinois Friday evening.