SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State hit a season-high .273 and remained atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings Sunday afternoon with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-12, 25-20) sweep of Evansville at Hammons Student Center.

The Bears (10-2, 6-1 MVC) posted their best attack efficiency since Nov. 2, 2019, getting 16 kills on .286 hitting from Brooklyn Cink and 15 more on .368 hitting from Amelia Flynn, while each player had 12 digs to complete double-doubles.

"We played well coming off a 12-day break from competing," head coach Steven McRoberts said after the match. "We had a good week of practice and that showed in a lot of areas today. Our defense improved as the match went on. 24 digs per set is incredible for us. Teagan Polcovich led the way and Holly Luginbill had some big defensive plays as well. Brooklyn and Amelia scored a lot from both the front row and back row."

The first set was tied nine times with five lead changes, the last coming on a Cink block to make it 17-16 Bears. The sophomore added three consecutive kills to cap a 5-0 run at a 22-17 advantage, finishing with five in the set. Flynn added eight kills to combine with Cink for 13 without an error and the Bears had 18 on .289 hitting as a team.

Missouri State took advantage of 11 Evansville (3-8, 2-7) attack errors to cruise in the second set and never trailed in the third period with Flynn and Cink combining for 10 more kills.

"Mentally, we've needed a three-set sweep this spring," McRoberts added. "It's tough to get back-to-back wins in the MVC. We know it will be a tough match tomorrow."

The Bears hit at least .250 in each set while UE never hit above .176 thanks to MSU's 72 digs and six blocks. Polcovich led all players with 23 digs and Luginbill added 12 to make it four Bears in double figures. MSU served a season-low two aces but only surrendered one to UE.

The teams meet again at 5 p.m. Monday.