TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Championship will get underway Thanksgiving Day when No. 5 Indiana State takes on No. 4 Drake, at 6:00 p.m. ET at Redbird Arena in Normal, Illinois.
The host and No. 3 Illinois State will face No. 6 Valparaiso at 8:30 p.m. The game one winner between DU/INS will take on No. 1 Missouri State on Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. in the first semifinal, while the ILS/VALPO winner will face No. 2 UNI in the second semifinal at 8:30 p.m. on Friday. The Championship match will take place Saturday, Nov. 24 at 5 p.m. ET with the winner receiving The Valley's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
All five matches of the 2017 MVC Volleyball Championship will be available for fans to follow via live streaming on The Valley on ESPN3 (espn3.com).
In her first season at Indiana State, head coach
Lindsay Allman has taken the Sycamores to the postseason. The Sycamores have not been to the postseason since 2014 and are looking for their first win in the MVC Championship since 1982. ISU was picked to finish ninth in the League's Preseason Poll.
Indiana State has four players with 200 or more kills this season led by
Laura Gross with a team-best 373. Redshirt sophomore
Cassie Kawa has 250 kills and a team-leading .304 attacking percentage while
Sarah Peterson sits with 241 kills in 111 sets played. Freshman
Nikkie White joined the club last weekend, now with 217 kills.
Outside hitter
Laura Gross leads the Sycamore attack with 373 kills this season at 3.36 kills per set. The Potomac, Illinois product has recorded 12 matches with 15+ more kills and ranks second on the team in total digs with 416. In total, the junior has put together 20 double-double performances in 29 matches.
Sophomore
Cassie Kawa sits fifth in The Valley with a .304 attacking percent this season. Kawa, a middle blocker for the Sycamores has 250 (2.27 k/s) this season which is second on the squad. The Alberta, Canada native has hit over .300 in 17 matches this season for the Sycamores, including a season best .529 against Bradley. Kawa has also recorded 60 blocks (0.58 b/s) for the Trees; third on the team in the category.
Sarah Peterson is third on the squad with 241 kills (2.17 k/s) for the Sycamores this season, hitting .185 in 111 sets. The outside hitter has accounted for 271 points for the Sycamores, which ranks third on the team. 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 170 of the teams blocks this season. Johnson has 22 multi-block matches while White has 20 on the season.
Libero
Stephanie Bindernagel leads the team on the defensive side of the ball with a team-high 525 digs. Bindernagel is averaging 4.61 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 10.04 assists per set, recording 1,145 assists so for this year. Griffith made history against Southern Illinois (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.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• 1-9 (.100) overall record
• 10th MVC Tournament Appearance and first since 2014
• 0-0 vs. Drake in MVC Tournament (quarterfinal opponent)
• Only tournament win is a vacated win over UNI from 1982
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.
