SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State volleyball came out on top of a thrilling 3-1 victory over Bradley to deliver head coach Steven McRoberts his 600th career win here Monday evening.
 
The Bears (13-6, 9-5 MVC) took the four-set battle that featured scores of 26-24, 25-10, 22-25, 25-23.  Amelia Flynn hit .295 with a game-high 20 kills and Kennedee Anderson dished out 28 assists to lead the surging MSU attack.
 
"The adjustments this group made after yesterday's game were incredible," said McRoberts following the match.  "Our serving was much better tonight with the 11 aces and we minimized our errors in this game.  Give credit to our blockers too, we held one of the top-hitting team in the conference to a .122 average and that was a key to our success today.  This was a big win for us to head into the final regular-season games and then the conference tournament with a confidence boost."
 
The Bears set the stage for their victory by securing a crucial opening set.  MSU recorded four of its 11 aces with Brooklyn Cink producing the set-winner on a well-placed serve that tied up the Braves (11-5, 11-5 MVC) defense. 
 
It was all Missouri State in the second frame as the Bears boasted a .421 hitting average and extinguished Bradley's attack by holding them to a -.148 efficiency and induced 11 errors to take a 2-0 lead.
 
After winning yesterday's three-set match, Bradley extended the contest in the third, matching the Bears attack with both sides recording 15 kills.  With the Bears making quick work of the previous set, the seesaw scuffle returned with neither side owning more than a three-point cushion, but it was the visitors who rallied late in the game to force a fourth set.
 
In the final set, the Braves jumped out to an 11-7 advantage which prompted a timeout from McRoberts to regroup his squad.  The Bears responded with a 9-5 run to knot the game at 16-all with a pair of kills from Cink and Flynn fueling the rally.  The two teams would go back-and-forth the rest of the way until Cink's 12th and final kill of the match sealed the 3-1 victory.
 
The Bears hit .208 in the match compared to .122 for the Braves and held an 11-5 advantage in service aces.  Alyssa Doucette and Azyah Green had 12 of MSU's 18 blocks in the game with Green tallying seven and Doucette with five.
 
Missouri State wraps up the 2021 regular season with a road trip to Indiana State beginning on Saturday, March 27 at 4 p.m.