SPRINGFIELD -- Missouri State opened the home portion of the Missouri Valley Conference schedule Monday evening with a 25-15, 25-15, 25-19 sweep of visiting Loyola at Hammons Student Center.

The Bears (11-5, 3-0 MVC) hit .365 as a team against the Ramblers (1-13, 0-3), with senior Lynsey Wright leading the way with a match-high 10 kills on .348 hitting to pass Susan Ruch for 15th in school history in career kills. Aubrey Cheffey hit .538 with nine kills and Ashley Ophoven hit .375 with eight winners for a balanced offensive attack.

Cheffey and MacKenzie Irwin were each a perfect 4-for-4 on the attack in the first set, and Irwin finished off the set with back-to-back blocks as the Bears hit .361 in the period. 

Ophoven fired six kills in the second set, including three in a row for an early 9-3 lead, and MSU broke the set open to a 20-9 advantage with a 6-0 run with Lily Johnson on serve. MSU jumped ahead 8-2 in the third set and kept the margin between four and seven points for the rest of the frame, hitting .385 to complete the sweep.

Missouri State limited the Ramblers to a .133 attack efficiency and owned leads of 42-31 in kills, 37-27 in digs and 3-1 in service aces. Loyola led 7-5 in blocking but also handed MSU 10 points on service errors.

The Bears aim for their 20th consecutive regular-season MVC win Friday at 7 p.m. when they host Indiana State.