NORMAL, Ill. – Missouri State used a balanced offensive effort Friday evening to earn a 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 31-29) Missouri Valley Conference victory against Illinois State at Redbird Arena.

Deja Bickers and Manuela Ibarguen had 13 kills each and Azyah Green finished with 12, and the Bears (8-16, 5-7) hit .264 as a team and have been at .247 or better in five consecutive matches.

Bickers hit .314, Green hit .455 with her career-high kill total for a three-setter, and Ibarguen added 13 digs for her 13th double-double of the season. Kate Owen led the way with 17 digs, Morgan Sprague had 42 assists and Lindsay Lahr tallied five blocks.

Missouri State had 18 kills on .400 hitting in a dominant opening set, and Green and Ibarguen combined for 11 kills without an error.

The Bears went on a 12-3 run to lead 18-9 in the second period before holding off a furious charge by the Redbirds (10-13, 3-9), who closed within a point on three occasions late. Bickers answered the first two with kills and Lahr responded with a kill the third time for 24-22, then teamed with Ibarguen for the winning block.

A wild third set was tied 22 times with 12 lead changes and a total of six match or set points spoiled before MSU held serve for the win. Illinois State had chances to extend the match at 25-24 and 26-25, while the Bears finally came through on their fifth match point thanks to another block from Lahr and Ibarguen to notch the team's third 3-0 victory in the last five matches.

Missouri State plays at Bradley (8-16, 4-8) at 5 p.m. Saturday. The Braves lost 3-1 to Southern Illinois on Friday.