SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State posted its best hitting percentage of the Missouri Valley Conference season at .292 Saturday and had four players with at least 13 kills in a 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21) victory against Drake at Hammons Student Center.

Maddy Bushnell led the way with a career-high 15 kills on .448 hitting, Brooklyn Cink and Amelia Flynn had 14 kills each and Manuela Ibarguen added 13 as the Bears piled up a season-high 65 kills on the night. Flynn moved into the top 10 on MSU's career kills list with 1,254, and Morgan Sprague dished out a career-best 56 assists.

Defensively, Cink had a career-high 20 digs and Ibarguen had 15 for double-doubles, while Kate Owen added 20 digs of her own. Bushnell finished with four of MSU's six blocks.

"Morgan did a great job running the offense tonight and everybody contributed," head coach Steven McRoberts said after the Bears improved to 13-5 overall and 4-2 in MVC play. "It was great to get our middles going again. Maddy and Azyah (Green) were huge factors at the net, and each of our pin hitters had moments with big kills and points. Kate had a great match, receiving serve well with 20 digs, and Brooklyn and Ella's (Ibarguen) double-doubles were big."

Ibarguen tallied with nine kills on .571 hitting and an ace in the first set, helping the offense hit .381 with 20 kills. The Bears took the lead for good with a 4-0 run to 14-11 and led by at least two points to the finish.

The second set included nine ties and four lead changes, the last during Drake's 3-0 run to 14-12, after which the Bulldogs (8-6, 2-3) kept the margin at 1-4 points.

The Bears rallied from a 13-10 deficit in the third, tying seven times before DU sent an attack long for a 23-22 MSU lead. From a 23-all tie, Bushnell and Flynn kills secured the win.

Missouri State never trailed in the fourth set after a 4-0 lead, though the Bulldogs pulled even on six different occasions, the last at 18-18. Five different Bears recorded kills after that to finish off the balanced effort.

Drake Haley Bush powered 25 kills for the Bulldogs, the most for an MSU opponent this season.

Missouri State heads to Evansville (12-4, 2-3) for a rare midweek tilt at 5 p.m. Tuesday.