SPRINGFIELD -- The Missouri State volleyball team swept Southern Illinois at home Friday evening to earn head coach Melissa Stokes her 500th career victory.

The Bears won by set scores of 25-12, 25-23, 25-21, reaching the milestone victory just four years and 15 days after Stokes picked up her 400th win. MSU improved to 8-9 overall and 1-3 in Missouri Valley Conference play, while SIU dropped to 4-13, 0-4.

Missouri State's first 14 points of the match came on kills before a block by Amelia Flynn and MacKenzie Irwin made it 15-8 in the first set. Flynn and Aubrey Cheffey scored six kills apiece in the opening frame, and the Bears hit .486 as a team with 20 kills.

The Bears started the second set on a 7-1 run, but SIU slowly climbed back to tie at 18. Irwin answered with a kill and an ace to make it 20-18, and Leah Vokolek added an ace for 22-19. The Salukis pulled within one at 22-21, and the Bears sided out to the win with a kill off each SIU serve.

MSU jumped ahead 13-5 in the third set, but the Salukis came back again to an 18-15 deficit. Kills by Cheffey and Flynn made it 20-15, SIU closed to 23-21, and Laynie Dake and Irwin finished off the victory with back-to-back winners.

Flynn finished with a match-high 16 kills on .438 hitting, adding 11 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Ashley Ophoven had a season-high 14 kills, Cheffey added 11 and Dake scored 10 to give the Bears four players in double figures. 

Chloe Rear added a season-high 51 assists, becoming only the second MSU player in the 25-point scoring era (since 2008) to reach 50 assists in a three-set match, and had 10 digs for her third double-double. Emily Butters led MSU with 13 digs and Irwin had three blocks.

The Bears hit .355 as a team compared to .225 for SIU.

Missouri State hits the road next week, beginning with a 6 p.m. Friday match at Indiana State.