(MSU Sports Information)
SPRINGFIELD — On the strength of 35 digs from Emily Butters and 27 more from Lily Johnson, the Missouri State volleyball team won a defense slugfest against Illinois State Saturday evening by a 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18) final at Hammons Student Center, extending its winning streak to 11 matches and improving to 18-5 overall and 10-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play.
Butters tied an MSU single-season record with her fourth match of 30 or more digs in 2017, posting the seventh-best match total in school history on the heels of a 44-dig performance for the No. 2 spot just eight days ago.
The Bears and Redbirds (14-10, 7-4) combined for 55 digs in the first set, with the difference being 12 attack errors from ISU compared to one for Missouri State. The home team did not trail after a 5-0 run made for an early 9-6 lead.
Illinois State jumped ahead 3-0 in the second set and kept the margin between two and five points until Aubrey Cheffey’s kill made it 20-19. Lynsey Wright scored for a 21-21 tie, and ISU countered with a 3-0 run to seal the win.
The Redbirds led for the majority of the third set, and the Bears went ahead for good on a Lauren Boone kill for a 19-18 advantage. An ISU error followed, and the teams sided out to the finish with the exception of a Cheffey kill for a 24-21 MSU lead.
Johnson had three kills and an ace during MSU’s 8-2 start to the fourth set, but the Redbirds fought back and took a 15-14 lead with an ace. Cheffey responded with two kills during a 3-0 run that swung the score in MSU’s favor for good, and the Bears closed on an 8-2 run to clinch their 26th consecutive conference victory.
Missouri State held leads of .213-.137 in hitting percentage, 58-56 in kills, 107-99 in digs and 7.5-6.5 in blocking. Johnson scored 18 kills and climbed to second in NCAA history in career attacks with more than 6,100, Wright hit .333 with 12 kills and Cheffey reached double figures with 10 winners.
The Bears head to Indiana next week for matches at Evansville on Friday and Indiana State on Saturday.
