KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, IND. ? Four weeks ago the Indiana State volleyball team hosted Drake and Creighton in the ISU Arena, playing one of their best weekend's of action since the 2004 season. The Sycamores nearly pulled off their first back-to-back wins in five years but split the action as they fell to the Bluejays 2-3 but came back the next night to sweep the Bulldogs 3-0.
The Sycamores (6-16, 2-7 MVC) will need to find that intensity this weekend as they start the second half of the Missouri Valley Conference season by visiting the Drake Bulldogs (16-7, 5-4 MVC) on Friday and then visit the Creighton Bluejays (7-12, 4-5 MVC) on Saturday. Both games begin at 8 p.m. (ET)
Live Stats Information
Live stats and video for all Indiana State home volleyball games are available through the Indiana State web site http://www.gosycamores.com.
Live stats, audio and video for the Drake game can be found at the Drake athletic website:
http://www.godrakebulldogs.com
Live stats, audio and video for the Creighton game can be found at the Creighton athletic website:
http://www.gocreighton.com
Scouting Indiana State
The Indiana State Sycamores enter this weekend's Missouri Valley Conference games ninth in the league standings with a 2-7 record in the Valley and a 6-16 mark overall. The Sycamores have dropped six of their last seven games with the only win coming in a 3-0 sweep of Bradley on the home court. Indiana State has lost 16 straight on the road and 41 straight MVC road games.
Senior Jodilynne Stoker moved into 10th on the ISU career kills list last Friday, increasing her total to 932 kills (2.51 kills per set). She leads the Sycamores this year with 219 kills (2.84 kps). The senior is also fifth on the ISU career total attack list with 3,215 attacks.
Junior Ana Maira Charun is averaging 2.45 kills per set with sophomore Stacy Qualizza averaging 2.09 kills per set. Senior Whitney Fromm leads ISU in assists with 7.81 assists per set. Fromm ranks sixth on the ISU career assist list with 2,668 (7.82 assists per set). Sophomore Kiya James leads the Sycamores in digs with 4.60 per set. Senior Stephanie Volden paces ISU in blocks with 0.71 per set, ranking eighth in career solo blocks (69), eighth in career block assists (199), and seventh in total blocks (268).
The Sycamores are averaging 11.44 kills per set overall (12.09 kps in league play) while hitting at .179 (.163 in league play). ISU is also averaging 10.69 assists per set (11.24 in league play), 13.99 digs per set (15.39 in league play), and 1.57 blocks per set (1.58 in league play).
Scouting Drake
The Drake Bulldogs have won five straight games including a 3-0 victory over Western Illinois Tuesday that upped their season record to 16-7. The Bulldogs are fourth in the current Missouri Valley Conference standings with a 5-4 record. The Bulldogs are 7-4 in the 7,000 set Knapp Center, 6-1 away from the home court and 3-2 on neutral courts.
Junior libero Alana Wittenburg ranks 30th in the nation in digs per set, averaging 5.01 digs per set this season (5.45 dps in league play). Senior Chelsea Lauersdorf paces the team in assists with 7.96 assists per set (7.16 aps in league play) while sophomore Michelle Reidy leads the teams in blocks with 1.01 blocks per set (1.34 bps in league play).
The Bulldogs have three players over two kills per set with junior Alisa DeBerg Roth averaging 2.47 kills per set, junior Angela Bys 2.41 kps, and Reidy 2.18 kps. In addition, red-shirt freshman Emly Heffermen is averaging 1.90 kps.
Drake currently ranks 36th in the nation in digs per set with an average of 16.42 dps. The Bulldogs are averaging 12.61 kills per set (12.29 in league play), 11.74 assists per set (11.55 in league play), and 2.39 blocks per set (2.58 in league play).
Scouting Creighton
The Creighton Bluejays broke a three-game losing streak with a 3-1 win at Southern Illinois last Saturday. The win improved Creighton to 7-12 overall and a 4-5 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference, tying them for fifth place. The Bluejays will host Illinois State on Friday before entertaining Indiana State on Saturday in the 2,950 seat D.J. Sokol Arena.
Senior Jessica Houts ranks 22nd in the nation in blocks per set at 1.34 while also sharing the team lead in kills per set with an average of 2.72 kps. Junior Allie Oelke also averages 2.72 kps while junior Alicia Runge averages 2.07 kps. Freshman Megan Bober paces the Bluejays in assists with 9.16 assists per set while junior Nayka Benitez averages 4.43 digs per set to pace Creighton.
The Bluejays rank seventh in the nation as a team in blocks per set with an average of 2.90 blocks per set. Creighton averages 2.75 blocks per set in league play. The Bluejays are averaging 12.00 kills per set (12.63 in league play, 11.14 assists per set (11.84 in league play), and 14.16 digs per set (16.00 in league play).
The Coaches
Traci Dahl (Long Beach State, 1997) is in her second year as the head coach of the Indiana State Sycamores with a 14-39 record which is also her career mark. Dahl was an assistant at Cal State Fullerton and at Hofstra before accepting the job at Indiana State. As a player, Dahl was an All-American middle blocker and a member of Long Beach State's 1993 national championship team.
Phil McDaniel (Culver-Stockton College, 1996) is in his second year as head coach of the Drake Bulldogs with a 28-27 record which is also his career mark. McDaniel was an assistant at South Dakota State and New Mexico State before accepting the job at Drake. He competed on the soccer and tennis teams while at Culver-Stockton College).
Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman state, 1997) is in her seventh season as the head coach of the Creighton Bluejays and is the winningest coach in CU history with a 113-84 record. Booth came to Creighton after going 112-41 in three years at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. As a player, she was named conference MVP, an Academic All-American and Missouri's 1997 NCAA Woman of the Year. She ranked third in Division II history with 6,077 assists when she graduated.
Series History vs. Drake
Indiana State is 22-23 all-time against Drake. The Sycamores have lost four straight to the Bulldogs in Des Moines, Iowa with their last victory coming in 2004 when ISU won 3-0. Indiana State ended four straight losses to Drake on the home court earlier this season when the Sycamores swept the Bulldogs 3-0 (30-28, 25-21, 25-22) on Sept. 26.
Series History vs. Creighton
Indiana State is 9-23 all-time against Creighton. The Sycamores have lost five straight in Omaha, Neb., with their last win at Creighton coming in the 2003 season when the Sycamores prevailed 3-2. Indiana State has dropped five straight on the home court to the Bluejays, including a 3-2 setback in the ISU Arena on Sept. 25 (21-25, 25-21, 28-26, 21-25, 12-15) in a game that the Sycamores led 2-1 after three sets.
Recapping last week
The Sycamores dropped a pair of games last week as they were swept at Valparaiso (3-0) on Tuesday and were swept off the home court by the Illinois State Redbirds (3-0) on Friday. Jodilynne Stoker had 19 kills (3.17 kps) and hitting .200 while Whitney Fromm had 44 assists (7.33 aps) and Kiya James 24 digs (4.0 dps).
James leading Sycamore defense
Indiana State sophomore defensive specialist/libero Kiya James (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike HS) ranks fourth among Valley diggers for the season (4.60 dps) and third in MVC games (5.52 dps). She has had seven games of 20+ digs this season including a career high 29 against IUPUI (Sept. 29).
Volden moving up in blocks
Indiana State senior middle blocker Stephanie Volden (McFarland, Wis./McFarland HS) ranks eighth on the All-Time Indiana State list in solo blocks (69), eighth in career block assists (199) and seventh in career total blocks (268). Volden also ranks sixth in the Valley in hitting percentage for conference games (.303)
Stoker knocking it down
Indiana State senior outside hitter Jodilynne Stoker (Ames, Iowa/Gilbert High School) moved into 10th place in the all-time career kills list at ISU, knocking down 19 kills last year to increase her career total to 932. She moved ahead of Karis Keeran who had 925 kills from 1994-1997. Stoker ranks fifth in All-Time Total Attempts with 3,215 attempts in her career. The senior eighth among Valley hitters in overall games at 2.84 kills per set and is 10th among the MVC in conference contests (3.06 kps). She has had two 20+ kill games including 24 against IUPUI (Sept. 29). Stoker is also tied for seventh for aces in Valley games with nine.
Fromm assisting her way up
Indiana State senior setter Whitney Fromm (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) continues to move up in the top 10 list of career set assists. Fromm has 601 set assists this season, upping her career total to 2,668 which is the sixth best on the ISU All-Time list. The senior moved past Stephanie Gale, who had 2,178 assists from 1984-1987 and is just behind Kerri Huffman, who had 2,693 from 1991-1994. Fromm ranks 10th in the Valley in assists (7.79 aps)
Tournament honors
Indiana State seniors Stephanie Volden and Jodilynne Stoker were named to the Best Western ISU Classic All-Tournament team following a vote of participating coaches at the tournament Sept. 11-12 in the ISU Arena. Volden had 18 kills, an assist, four aces, eight digs and five blocks in the tournament while Stoker had 23 kills, an assist, an ace, 12 digs and one block.
Indiana State sophomore was named to the Best Western Sycamore Classic All-Tournament team following a vote of participating coaches at the tournament Aug. 28-29 in the ISU Arena. James, a defensive specialist/libero from Indianapolis, Ind. (Pike HS), had 55 digs through the four games (3.44 per set) and a service ace.
Sideouts
OPPONENTS IN THE RANKINGS - Sycamore opponents dropped out of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I Coaches Poll Top 25 released Oct. 19 as Long Beach State dropped out after being ranked 25th a week ago. Long Beach State, Northern Iowa, and Missouri State did receive votes in the coaches' poll with Long Beach State receiving 58, UNI 45points and Missouri State 7.
