TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Indiana State volleyball travels to two of the top teams in the Missouri Valley Conference this weekend with matches at Drake and Northern Iowa. ISU and the Bulldogs will square off Friday at 8 p.m. ET in Des Moines before taking on the Panthers Saturday at 8 p.m. ET in Cedar Falls. Both matches will air live on The Valley On ESPN3.
OPENING SERVE
Junior
Laura Gross leads the Sycamore attack with 291 kills this season. She leads the team by nearly one more kill per set with 3.23. The Potomac, Illinois product has recorded 10 matches with 15+ more kills and ranks second on the team in total digs with 326. Gross ranks 3rd in The Valley and 45th nationally with 11.13 attacks per set.
Sophomore
Cassie Kawa sits third in The Valley with a .326 attacking percent through 89 sets. Kawa, a middle blocker for the Sycamores has 209 (2.40 k/s) this season which is second on the squad. The Alberta, Canada native has hit over .300 in 15 matches this season for the Sycamores, including a season best .529 against Bradley. Kawa has also recorded 47 blocks (0.53 b/s) for the Trees; third on the team in the category.
Sarah Peterson is third on the squad with 187 kills (2.08 k/s) for the Sycamores this season, hitting .179 in 90 sets. The outside hitter has accounted for 214.5 points for the Sycamores, which ranks third on the squad. She has recorded a kill in every match she has played this season with a season high 13 kills coming against Drake (10/7).
Defensively, Indiana State has two of the top blockers in the MVC in sophomore
Damadj Johnson and freshman
Nikkie White. The duo has combined for 148 of the teams' 267 blocks this season. Johnson has 18 multi-block matches while White has 17 on the season.
Libero
Stephanie Bindernagel leads the team on the defensive side of the ball with a team-high 435 digs. Bindernagel is averaging 4.68 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.
Senior setter
Rachel Griffin paces the Sycamores with 9.73 assists per set, recording 905 assists so for this year. Griffith made history against SIU (9/30) earlier this season 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.
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
Drake comes into the weekend riding a three-match winning streak with a 21-6 overall record and a 10-3 mark in MVC action. The Bulldogs are ld by a pair of attackers i Kyla Inderski (3.30 k/s) and Cathryn Cheeck (3.15 k/s).
Drake leads the all-time series with ISU, 35-26. ISU's last win over DU coming in 2014 in the ISU Arena. Indiana State defeated Drake three-straight times from 2013-14.
The Panthers bring with them one of the most balanced offensive attacks in the MVC with three players averaging three or more kills per set led by Piper Thomas with 3.93 kills a set. Thomas is also averaging a team best 0.84 blocks per set.
Northern Iowa holds a 59-4 all-time record against the Sycamores. The Panthers swept Indiana State in 2016. The last time ISU defeated UNI was in 2015 in Terre Haute.
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.
