PEORIA, Ill. – Missouri State came up short Saturday in a back-and-forth match at Bradley, falling to the Braves by a 3-1 tally at Renaissance Coliseum. Set scores went 25-23, 18-25, 26-24, 25-12 in favor of BU.

Missouri State's Amelia Flynn reached the 20-kill mark for the 13th time in her career, ending the match with 21 kills and 11 digs, Manuela Ibarguen added 13 kills and 14 digs, and Maddy Bushnell hit .450 with 11 kills.

Morgan Sprague set the offense to a .245 hitting percentage with 48 assists to go with 15 digs, but the Braves hit .312 as a team despite the Bears recording nine blocks and 70 digs, including a season-high 22 from Kate Owen.

"I thought we competed well the first three sets and had legitimate opportunities to win both the first and third sets, but I will definitely give Bradley credit for closing those two sets out and then controlling the fourth set," said MSU head coach Steven McRoberts. "We can take a lot of positives from this weekend as we grow this season."

Bradley (7-8, 3-1 MVC) prevailed after 13 ties and four lead changes in the first set, scoring consecutive points from 22-22, surviving a long review after gaining set point at 24-22, and taking the 1-0 lead two points later.

Missouri State (11-5, 2-2) spotted the Braves a 3-0 lead in the second before turning it around, going ahead 14-8 and hitting .281 as a team compared to .094 for BU thanks to five team blocks, including four from Brooklyn Cink.

A 4-0 run gave Bradley an 11-9 lead in the third, and the Bears clawed back and eventually spoiled two set points with kills from Ibarguen and Cink for a 24-24 tie, only to see the Braves counter with a kill and an ace for the two-point win.

Bradley turned that momentum into a dominant fourth period, piling up 21 kills on .429 hitting to complete the victory.

Missouri State is back home Oct. 8 and 9 to take on UNI and Drake.