EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Amelia Flynn tied a Missouri State freshman record with 26 kills, leading the Bears to a 3-2 (21-25, 25-23, 25-17, 21-25, 15-7) victory over Evansville Saturday evening at Meeks Family Fieldhouse.

The Bears overcame a slow offensive start by hitting .304 over the final four sets, improving to 10-9 overall and 3-3 in Missouri Valley Conference play with their 19th consecutive October victory, while the Aces fell to 7-13 and 1-6 in league matches.

Flynn now shares MSU's freshman single-match kills record with Lily Johnson (2014) and Vanessa Wouters (1994), and hit .364 in the contest with 15 digs and two aces.

While Flynn carried the offensive load through the first four sets, Ashley Ophoven took over with five kills in the fifth set to finish with 13 in the match on .303 hitting. The senior's first kill of the deciding set gave the Bears a 5-2 lead, and MSU led by multiple points for the remainder of the period, hitting .409 with 10 kills and one error.

Evansville used a 4-0 run to pull away from a 20-all tie in the first set, finishing 19 kills to offset seven Missouri State blocks in the opening frame.

Flynn swatted eight kills in the second, helping MSU overcome a 14-9 deficit, and the Bears controlled the third set from the beginning, hitting .270 with 16 kills. 

The Bears trailed for the duration of the fourth set after falling behind 5-4, with Evansville owning at least a two-point advantage after back-to-back MSU errors made the score 12-8. The Aces grew their lead to 19-14, and the Bears got no closer than two points as UE hit .382 in the period.

Emily Butters led all players with 28 digs - her 45th career match with 20 or more - moving up two spots to fourth on the MVC's career list with 2,223 digs. Chloe Rear dished out a career-best 54 assists for the second straight match, adding a career-high 15 digs along with five blocks and two aces. Aubrey Cheffey added 11 kills

MSU tied a season high with 15 blocks, including seven each from MacKenzie Irwin and Laynie Dake. The Bears hit .260 overall compared to .225 for UE.

Missouri State returns home Oct. 12 and 13 for matches with Drake and UNI. First serve for both contests is 7 p.m.