Systems and methods are provided for decoding signal vectors in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, where the receiver has received one or more signal vectors based on the same transmitted vector. The symbols of the received signal vectors are combined, forming a combined received signal vector that may be treated as a single received signal vector. The combined received signal vector may be equalized by, for example, a zero-forcing or minimum-mean-squared error equalizer or another suitable linear equalizer. Following equalization, the equalized signal vector may be decoded using a simple, linear decoder.