SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State concluded its 2021 volleyball season with a third consecutive victory Saturday at Hammons Student Center, topping Evansville in four sets by scores of 25-16, 23-25, 25-17, 25-19.

The Bears end the season with a 17-13 overall record and 8-10 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference, their 22nd second winning overall record in the last 23 years.

Missouri State's four outgoing seniors all saw action in the final match of their careers, led by Amelia Flynn's match-high 19 kills on .280 hitting. Emelie Orlando entered in the third set and served an ace on her first attempt, Natalie Thomas scored the winning kill in that period, and Alyssa Doucette saw time in the fourth set.

The Bears hit .259 in the match and .235 or higher in each set, with Manuela Ibarguen and Maddy Bushnell adding 10 kills apiece to join Flynn in double figures. Bushnell hit .562 to end the year at .343 to rank second in the MVC.

Katie Wemhoener (23) and Morgan Sprague (19) both had career high dig totals, while Azyah Green had five blocks to finish the season with a 1.17 average, the highest since the 25-point scoring rules took effect in 2008.

Missouri State led wire-to-wire in the first set and Evansville (19-10, 9-9) piled up 22 kills in the second period to even the match.

It was all Bears after that with a pair of dominant set wins, taking advantage of 18 UE service errors on the night compared to only five aces. MSU had six aces and four errors, while also leading in digs (76-67) and blocks (8-5).