NORMAL, Ill. -- Bradley took the opening set of Sunday's matchup with I-74 rival Illinois State 25-23, but the Redbirds battled back to take the next three 25-19, 28-26, 25-17 and top the Braves in four sets at Redbird Arena.

BU (7-6 overall, 1-3 MVC) never trailed in the opening set and pulled away late for a 25-23 win.  Alise Tupuritis (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) capped a 4-1 Bradley run with a kill to help the Braves build a 23-19 lead.  Illinois State later held off a pair of BU set points before Tupuritis found the back corner with a kill from the back row to close out the 25-23 victory.  Bradley hit .188 in the opening frame and limited the Redbirds to an .035 attack percentage. 

Illinois State (9-7 overall, 1-3 MVC) took control of the second set midway through, with Tabitha Visk highlighting a 9-0 ISU run with three consecutive aces.  The Redbirds led by as many as eight points (16-8) en route to the 25-19 win.  Bradley clawed back to within four points, but attack errors down the stretch ended the BU rally attempt. 

The third set featured 12 ties and six lead changes before Illinois State took the set 28-26.  Bradley fought off four ISU set points and the teams were even at 26-26 when Emily Schneider gave the Redbirds a 27-26 edge with a kill and Angelo Rego followed with a kill to finish off the ISU win.

Bradley trailed 16-15 in the fourth set after an Annie Cave (Easton, Ill./Illini Central) kill, but Illinois State answered with a 7-1 run to take a 23-16 advantage.   The Redbirds tallied their 10th block of the day to go ahead 24-17 and Laura Wakefield served up ISU's ninth ace of the afternoon as Illinois State closed out the match with a 25-17 fourth-set victory.

Tupuritis and senior Megan Schmidt (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) led Bradley with 10 kills each.  Senior Rachelle Dejean (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) finished with 10 digs as she moved up two spots into fourth on BU's career digs list.  Dejean (1,212 digs) passed Wendy Carney (1,203 digs) and Mary Kay Schmidt (1,209) for fourth place on the career digs chart. 

Sophomore Amy Angelos (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) added nine kills and four blocks to help lead the Braves, who won a set on the road against Illinois State for the first time since 2008. 

LeighAnn Hranka led Illinois State with 13 kills, while Shannon McGlaughlin collected 11 kills to pace the Redbirds.  Jenny Menendez led the ISU defensive efforts with 13 digs.

Bradley returns to action Friday, hosting Missouri State at 7 p.m. at Renaissance Coliseum.