NORMAL, Ill. – Amelia Flynn swatted a season-high 26 kills and Teagan Polcovich had a Missouri State freshman-record 31 digs Monday afternoon, but the volleyball Bears fell by a 3-1 final to Illinois State at Redbird Arena.

Flynn's 26 kills came on .306 hitting and represented her 10th career match with at least 20, but the Redbirds (9-5, 7-3 Missouri Valley Conference) closed the fourth set on a 4-0 run to prevent MSU's comeback bid and won by scores of 25-21, 25-17, 21-25, 25-21.

Polcovich, meanwhile, broke Erin Murphy's 21-year-old record for digs by a freshman, eclipsing Murphy's total of 30 for the most ever by an MSU rookie.

"We had our chances tonight late in sets 1 and 4 and just didn't finish," said MSU head coach Steven McRoberts. "I was proud of our effort and I thought we improved in a lot of areas from Sunday to Monday. This is a match that our young team can definitely learn a lot from as we move forward. Amelia (kills) and Teagan (digs) both had great nights."

Missouri State (12-5, 8-4) rallied from 16-10 deficit in the first set all the way to a 22-21 deficit before ISU scored the final three points.

The Redbirds hit .342 in the second set and led by four-plus points after building a 10-5 advantage, and the Bears extended the match thanks to eight kills and three blocks from Flynn in the third. MSU grabbed a 15-11 lead, ISU tied twice, and Flynn had two kills and two blocks in a 4-0 run for a 23-19 advantage.

MSU fell behind 9-5 in the fourth and rallied for one-point leads on four separate occasions before the Redbirds ended on a 6-1 run to seal the match.

Brooklyn Cink added 11 kills and 14 digs for her 12th double-double of the year. Missouri State hit .145 compared to .219 for the Redbirds.

Missouri State hosts Bradley March 21-22 in the final home weekend of the season.