TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Indiana State volleyball will face a trio of Missouri Valley Conference foes this weekend with No. 21 ranked Northern Iowa, Drake and Illinois State visiting the ISU Arena starting Friday. ISU will face UNI Friday at 7 p.m. - Drake Saturday at 7 p.m. - before wrapping up the home action with Illinois State Monday at 7 p.m.
All three matches will be streamed live on The Valley On ESPN3 and admission is free.
Friday will serve as the teams 'Pink Match'. All fans are encouraged to wear pink to support breast cancer awareness and honor survivors. All donations raised throughout the day will benefit PINK of Terre Haute with all donations going toward helping families in the Wabash Valley. For more information visit
PinkofTerreHaute.com.
OPENING SERVE
Sycamore volleyball is off and running in Missouri Valley Conference action. ISU sits at 3-1 in The Valley after wins over Evansville, Bradley and Southern Illinois during the first two weekends of play. The 3-1 mark is the best start to conference play for the Sycamores in program history since joining the MVC.
Senior setter
Rachel Griffin made history in Carbondale (9/30) when she recorded her 2,000th career assist against the Salukis. Griffin is just the 11th player to reach the mark in program history and the first to do so since Erika Nord reached the milestone in 2015.
Indiana State recorded a come-from-behind win over SIU Saturday after dropping the first set to the Salukis, 25-21. The Sycamores reeled off three-straight set wins take the match and improve to 3-1 in Valley action. One of the reasons for the win was a strong offensive attack. After recording a .106 attacking percentage in the first set, the Sycamores vastly improved as the match progressed, hitting .263, .394 and .379 in the final three sets on their way to victory.
The Sycamore offense runs through junior transfer
Laura Gross. The Potomac, Illinois product ranks 24th nationally with 11.75 attacks per set. She leads the team with 3.41 kills per set. Gross has also recorded 11 double-doubles to lead the team. Gross sits 21st nationally in total attacks (752) and 93rd nationally in total kills with 219.
Libero
Stephanie Bindernagel is just two digs from 300 for the season. Bindernagel averages 4.66 digs per set to lead the team and has had 10 or more digs in all but one match this season with a season-best 38-dig performance coming against IUPUI.
Sophomore
Damadj Johnson sits second in the MVC with 1.12 blocks per set. Coming off a phenomenal freshman campaign, the East St. Louis, Illinois product has continued to dominate the net. Alongside Johnson is freshman
Nikkie White who is second on the squad with 0.73 blocks per set. White has recorded multiple blocks in six-straight matches with a career high 10 blocks against Cal State-Fullerton.
ISU earned its 19th straight AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2016 season. The streak is the longest among all schools and ties Drury University (Division II) for the longest streak in the nation.
THE OPPOSITION
Northern Iowa holds a 58-4 all-time record against the Sycamores. The Panthers swept Indiana State in 2016. The last time ISU defeated UNI was in 2015 at home.
Drake leads the all-time series with ISU, 34-26. ISU is 15-15 at home against the Bulldogs with the last win over DU coming in 2014 in the ISU Arena. Indiana State defeated Drake three-straight times from 2013-14.
Indiana State trails the all-time series with the Redbirds, 56-8, falling in the last seven meetings. The Sycamores last win in the series came in 2013 at home in a 3-1 win.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Volleyball team, make sure to check out
GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including
Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram.
