CONWAY, Ark. – The Missouri State volleyball team turned slow starts into comfortable wins in all three sets Saturday to sweep Little Rock (25-21, 25-18, 25-20) in its final match at the UCA Invitational played at the Prince Center on the Central Arkansas campus.

The Bears (4-2) finished the three sets with extended runs of 18-9, 17-8 and 21-11 on the way to hitting .296 as a team with 10 blocks and six service aces.

"Another well balanced match today," MSU head coach Steven McRoberts said following the win. "Our block did a nice job and I thought our serve and offense did a nice job of controlling the match."

Missouri State trailed 12-7 in the first before getting three blocks from Azyah Green in a 7-1 run to take the lead. The Bears scored four in a row for an 18-15 advantage and pulled away on the strength of seven kills without an error from Manuela Ibarguen.

Freshman Maddy Bushnell had two kills and a block in a 5-0 run that put the Bears up 13-10 and swung the second set in MSU's favor, as Missouri State hit .400 in the period and blocked five Little Rock (3-3) attacks.

The Bears erased a 9-4 deficit in the third set, taking the lead for good with a 4-0 run that included two Brooklyn Cink kills for a 15-13 lead, while five different players registered multiple kills in the frame.

Ibarguen led the Bears with 11 kills on .308 hitting, Green tallied six blocks, and Teagan Polcovich added 19 digs. Kate Owen served a pair of aces, while Bushnell hit .600 with six kills and five blocks and Morgan Sprague dished out 32 assists in a solid day for the MSU freshmen.

"Over the last two matches Morgan has been more confident getting the middles involved and that has helped us hit right around .300 for both matches," McRoberts added. "Teagan had a great match with 19 digs. We look forward to finally playing at home next weekend."

Missouri State had four fewer kills than the Trojans but committed only nine errors compared to 22 for LR.

The Bears make their home debut during the three-day Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational, Sept. 10-12 at Hammons Student Center. Missouri State's first match will be against Louisiana Monroe at 6 p.m. on Friday the 10th.