CONWAY, Ark. – Missouri State hit .314 in a 3-1 victory at Central Arkansas Friday evening after dropping a 3-0 decision in the morning match of the UCA Invitational at the Prince Center.

"Very efficient match for us tonight," head coach Steven McRoberts said after the Bears improved to 3-2 with the UCA win. "Lots of players chipped in offensively with kills and high hitting percentages. We grew up some today from our morning match to tonight and we look forward to carrying that into tomorrow."

MSU meets Little Rock (3-2) at noon on Saturday to conclude tournament play.

Memphis Recap (Memphis won 25-17, 25-21, 25-23)
Memphis had a balanced attack with five players between seven and 10 kills and hit .308 as a team in the sweep. Amelia Flynn led the Bears with 12 kills and 10 digs for her 40th career double-double, freshman Morgan Sprague served four aces and Teagan Polcovich had a match-high 13 digs.

The Tigers (5-0) jumped ahead 10-3 in the first set and hit .545 as a team. The Bears were no closer than 17-13 after UM's fast start, but still hit .333 with Flynn logging five kills.

A pair of 5-0 runs helped Memphis gain a 17-10 advantage in the second set, and the Bears rattled off a 6-0 run in response but were never able to tie the score as an .024 attack efficiency hampered the comeback effort.

Sprague had two aces and Flynn and freshman Maddy Bushnell paired up for two blocks during a 6-0 run that gave Missouri State a 23-22 lead late in the third before an MSU error and two Memphis kills gave the Tigers the final three points.

Memphis hit .308 in the match compared to .159 for the Bears and led 46-33 in kills and 51-39 in digs. MSU owned a 6-2 blocking lead and each team served six aces.

Central Arkansas Recap (MSU won 25-18, 26-28, 25-15, 26-24)
The Bears posted their highest attack efficiency since November 2018 at .314 with five players collecting at least eight kills and hitting above the .250 mark.

Flynn had 15 kills and 11 digs for another double-double, connecting on seven of her first eight swings to help the Bears to 16 kills and .321 hitting in the first set.

The Bears opened a 4-0 lead in the second and led by as many as five points before UCA (1-1) evened the score at 19. Bushnell landed on two of her 12 kills on .409 hitting for 21-19, but the Sugar Bears fought off four set points to even the match.

Missouri State hit .519 with one error in a dominant third set, turning a 6-6 tie into a 24-13 lead thanks to Bushnell and Flynn each scoring five kills.

MSU then overcame a 5-1 deficit in the fourth to lead 20-16 on consecutive Rylee Fay aces, only to see UCA battle back for a 24-24 tie. Manuela Ibarguen countered with her 17th kill of the night before the Sugar Bears missed on an attack to secure the Missouri State victory.

The Bears held leads of 55-49 in kills, 7-6 in blocks, 55-49 in digs and 10-3 in aces, reaching double figures at the service line for the eighth time in the last 27 matches.

Polcovich led MSU with 14 digs, Sprague had 48 assists and Bushnell tallied four blocks.