SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State's defense shut down sixth-seeded Illinois State Sunday evening in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Championship at Hammons Student Center, helping the seventh-seeded Bears top the Redbirds 3-1 (25-16, 22-25, 25-18, 27-25) and advance to Monday's quarterfinal against No. 3 UIC at 6 p.m.

The Bears (16-15) had 12 blocks and 78 digs to limit ISU (12-19) to .116 hitting in the match, with Morgan Sprague scooping a career-high 24 from the setter position and Kate Owen matching her season high with 20, including the 1,000th dig of her career during the first point of the match to become the 27th player in school history to reach that milestone.

Missouri State hit .324 in the opening set and never trailed, with Azyah Green tallying four of her match-high eight blocks to lead the defense.

The Bears grabbed a 5-0 lead in the second, then trailed 9-6 before the score was tied seven times from 12 through 21. The Redbirds scored the next two to lead 23-21 and held on to even the contest.

Sprague had 12 of the Bears' 25 digs in the third set and MoState didn't trail after 8-7, holding the Redbirds to seven kills and eight errors.

Missouri State rolled to a 16-6 lead in a wild fourth set that saw the Redbirds grab double-set point at 24-22. Deja Bickers connected on three consecutive kills for the Bears to make 25-24, ISU tied at 25, Maddy Bushnell got another go-ahead kill and then paired with Lindsay Lahr for the winning block.

Bickers hit .333 with 16 kills, Breanah Rives had 13 and Bushnell had 12. Sprague's 40 assists gave her a 16th double-double on the year, and Teagan Polcovich added 12 digs. MSU led 54-50 in kills, .219-.116 in attack efficiency, 78-63 in digs and 12-10 in blocks.