DES MOINES, Iowa -- Led by Amelia Flynn's 27 kills, the most by a freshman in Missouri State history, the volleyball Bears secured their spot in the Missouri Valley Conference field Saturday evening with a 3-1 victory at Drake.

Breaking the record she already shared at 26 with Lily Johnson and Vanessa Wouters, Flynn's 27 kills marked the most for any MSU player in a four set match since Amanda Omar had 33 in 1998 against Southern Illinois, and moved her to third place on the single-season freshman list with 350.

The Bears (16-13, 9-7 MVC), who can still be seeded as high as fourth at the league meet held in Springfield over Thanksgiving weekend, won by set scores of 25-22, 25-19, 23-25, 25-15 . The Bulldogs fell to 18-13 overall and 6-10 in league matches.

Several other players had historic nights as well for the Bears. Senior Emily Butters finished with 21 digs - her 50th career match with 20 or more - and moved up to 25th in NCAA history with 2,417 career digs. She also became the 16th player in NCAA history to appear in 500 consecutive sets. Chloe Rear's career-high 58 assists made her the third MSU freshman with 1,000 assists in a season.

Missouri State trailed for much of the first set, gaining its first least during a 4-0 run that resulted in a 20-18 advantage the Bears never gave back. MSU never trailed in the second period, leading by three-plus points after Ashley Ophoven's kill made it 20-14.

The Bears nearly rallied from a 23-18 deficit in the third but fell just short, then ripped off a 10-2 run in the fourth to lead 19-11. Flynn's record kill made it 20-13, and MSU cruised home with its fourth straight set with 16 or more kills.

The Bears hit .273 in the match compared to .163 for Drake, owning leads of 65-52 in kills, 78-58 in digs, 12-9 in blocks and 4-3 in aces. Ophoven finished with 13 kills, four Bears had 10-plus digs, and MacKenzie Irwin had seven blocks.

Missouri State returns home to close the regular season with matches against Valparaiso at 7 p.m. Friday and Loyola at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Bears are tied with Valpo for fourth place in the MVC standings, while Loyola sits two matches behind in sixth.