NORMAL, Ill. – Missouri State piled up 61 kills with five different players collecting at least nine winners Saturday at CEFCU Arena as the Bears grabbed a 3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 23-25, 25-22) victory at Illinois State.
 
With the victory, the Bears moved to 11-16 overall and 5-10 in Missouri Valley Conference play, joining Belmont and Evansville in a three-way tie for the final spot in the conference tournament with three matches to play. ISU dropped to 13-15 and 8-7 in league matches.
 
Rilynn Finley led MoState with 18 kills and moved up to ninth all-time among MSU freshmen with 317 on the season. Iva Halacheva and Maddy Bushnell had 12 kills each, Neele'ge Sims had 10 and Lexi Weinberg added nine.
 
Morgan Sprague set the offense to a .277 attack efficiency with 47 assists and 13 digs for her 18^th double-double of the season. Kate Owen led MSU with 17 digs and two aces, while Bushnell and Sims had four blocks each.
 
The Bears took the lead for good in the first set after a 4-0 run made it 12-9, hitting .297 with 15 kills in the period.
 
Finley had four kills in an 8-0 run to 12-4 in the second set and finished the period with six winners as the Bears had 15 and three aces to take the 2-0 match lead.
 
After the Redbirds took an 11-7 lead in the third, the Bears tied the score five times but never took the lead as the home team hit .375 with 20 kills to extend the match.
 
MoState bolted to a 7-1 lead in the fourth set, but ISU quickly evened the score at 10-10. The score was tied six more times to 22-22 when Halacheva's kill gave MSU the lead for good.
 
The Bears will close out the regular season with three home matches, beginning with league-leading UNI at 6 p.m. Friday at Hammons Student Center.