KEVIN JENISON
Gosycamores.com
The Opening Serve - The chance to play in the 2009 Missouri Valley Conference volleyball tournament may have slipped away from the Indiana State Sycamores with a pair of conference losses last weekend; but the Sycamores still have a lot to play for in their final five games of the season.
Indiana State has not swept a Valley opponent since the 2004 season when they took both regular season meetings against Bradley, Southern Illinois, and Drake. Indiana State (6-21, 2-11 MVC) has a chance to post a sweep when they take on the Bradley Braves (9-17, 0-12 MVC) in Peoria, Ill., Friday night (8 p.m. ET). The Sycamores defeated Bradley 3-0 (29-27, 25-18, 25-13) in the ISU Arena on Oct. 10.
The win would also accomplish another goal for the 2009 team, winning a Valley game on the road. Indiana State has dropped 43 straight Valley road games dating back to the 2004 season when the Sycamores won at Southern Illinois 3-1. ISU has also dropped 18 straight road games, a streak dating back to the 2008 season when Indiana State won at Chicago State 3-0.
The win would also give Indiana State their most MVC wins since the 2004 season. The Sycamores currently have a pair of Valley victories, both coming on the home court in wins over Bradley and Drake. ISU also had two MVC wins in 2008, both on the home court, in wins over Bradley and Illinois State. Posting three, or more, wins in the Valley this season would be the best Sycamore effort since 2004 when ISU finished 8-10 in the Valley. The 2004 season was also the last time ISU made it to the post season tournament.
Indiana State will also play at league leading and 25th ranked Northern Iowa (22-2, 12-0 MVC) on Saturday (8 p.m. ET) in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Northern Iowa is the only Missouri Valley Conference member that the Sycamores have yet to defeat on the road, a streak of 22 straight losses in Cedar Falls. ISU played UNI tough in their first meet of the season despite losing in three sets 18-25, 22-25, 17-25.
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 for the Indiana State vs. Bradley game can be found at: http://www.bradleybraves.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml
Live stats for the Indiana State vs. Northern Iowa game can be found at: http://www.unipanthers.com/gametracker/launch/gt_wvolley.html?event=780497&school=niwa&sport=wvolley&camefrom=&startschool=&
Scouting Indiana State
The Indiana State Sycamores enter this week's games ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference standings with a 2-11 record in the Valley and a 6-21 mark overall. The Sycamores have dropped seven straight with their last win coming on Oct. 10 when they hosted Bradley and posted a 3-0 win. ISU has won just one set in their last seven games but that does not mean that the Sycamores were not competitive. Nine of the 22 sets were decided by five points or less including four that were decided by just two points.
Senior Jodilynne Stoker leads Indiana State in kills with 256 this season, an average of 2.88 kills per set. She is 10th on the ISU career kills list, increasing her total to 969 kills (2.53 kills per set) with 14 kills this past week. The senior is also fifth on the ISU career total attack list with 3,350 attacks.
Sophomore Stacy Qualizza is second on the team in kills with 201 this season (2.21 kills per set) and leads the team in hitting percentage at .265. Junior Ana Maira Charun has 173 kills this season (2.34 kps).
Senior Whitney Fromm leads ISU in assists with 7.84 assists per set. Fromm moved into fourth place in the ISU career assist list last week when she recorded 87 assists to give her 2,796 (7.83 assists per set) for her career. She is just Annette Runge who is third on the all-time list with 2,882 assists from 1988 to 1991.
Sophomore Kiya James leads the Sycamores in digs with 4.58 per set.
Senior Stephanie Volden paces ISU in blocks with 0.63 per set, ranking eighth in career solo blocks (69), eighth in career block assists (202), and seventh in total blocks (271).
The Sycamores are averaging 11.60 kills per set overall (12.09 kps in league play) while hitting at .176 (.159 in league play). ISU is also averaging 10.81 assists per set (11.17 in league play), 14.20 digs per set (15.39 in league play), and 1.48 blocks per set (1.46 in league play).
Scouting Bradley
The Bradley Braves (9-17, 0-12 MVC) have dropped seven straight games and 13 of their last 14 with the only victory coming in a 3-2 home win over SIU Edwardsville on Oct. 4. The Braves had just one match last week as they travelled to Northern Iowa and was defeated by the Panthers 3-0 (25-18, 25-10, 25-23).
Two Braves are averaging over two kills per set including senior Amy Reichel (2.52 kps) and blocks (0.45 bps), sophomore Annie Cave (2.10 kps). Freshman Skylar Lesan is tops in assists (9.33 aps), and sophomore Rachel Dejean leads in digs (2.80 dps).
Lesan ranks 62nd in the nation in aces per set (039) and 159th in the nation in assists per set (9.22). As a team, the Braves rank 98th in the nation in aces per set (1.39), which is second best in the Missouri Valley.
Indiana State survived a hard fought first set to post their second conference win of the season in a sweep in taking a 29-27, 25-18, 25-13 victory. Cave had 11 kills and Reichel 10 in the first meeting with Indiana State with Lesan recording 24 assists and Dejean 12 digs. Qualizza led ISU with 15 kills with Charun knocking down 14. Fromm had 38 assists and James 15 digs.
Scouting Northern Iowa
The hottest team in the Missouri Valley Conference continues to be the Northern Iowa Panthers, who have now won 20 straight games (the second longest streak in Division I) including all 12 of their Valley games in 2009. The Panthers enter the weekend ranked 25th in the nation, 22-2 overall and 12-0 in the Valley. The Panthers can tie the school record of 21 straight (accomplished in 2001 when UNI advanced to the Sweet 16) when they host Illinois State on Friday.
Northern Iowa began last week with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-14) victory at South Dakota State on Wednesday and then swept the Bradley Braves 3-0 (25-18, 25-6, 25-17) on Saturday.
The Panthers are ranked 10th in the nation in assists per set (13.61), 16th in digs per set (17.36), 16th in hitting percentage (0.269), sixth in kills per set (14.8), and fourth in winning percentage (0.917). Junior Ellie Blankenship is second in the nation in digs per set (6.04) and sophomore Bre Payton is 71st in the nation in assists per set (10.41).
Five Panthers are over two kills per set led by senior outside hitter Shannon Aschoff with 3.00 kps for the season and 3.51 kps in Valley games. Sophomore Michelle Burow is at 2.89 kps overall (3.23 kps Valley), freshman Amy Braun has 2.68 kps overall (2.91 kps Valley), junior Beth Discher 2.54 kps (2.26 kps Valley), and Payton 2.06 kps overall (2.07 kps Valley).
Northern Iowa fought off a determined Indiana State effort in the first meeting of the season to take a three set (25-18, 25-22, 25-17) victory. Braun and Aschoff had 11 kills each in the first meeting with Burrow knocking down 10. Payton had 36 assists and Blankenship 24 digs. Stoker led ISU with nine kills while Fromm had 17 assists and James 16 digs.
The Coaches
Traci Dahl (Long Beach State, 1996) is in her second year as the head coach of the Indiana State Sycamores with a 14-44 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.
Sean Burdette (Ohio Dominican, 1997) is in his second season at the helm of the Bradley Braves and is currently 15-43. Burdette came to Bradley in January 2008 after five seasons as an assistant at Ohio State where he helped the Buckeyes to three consecutive NCAA appearances. Prior to Ohio State, he was an associate head coach at Towson University (2000-2003) and spent three seasons as n assistant coach at Pittsburgh (1998-2000).
Bobbi Petersen (Northern Iowa, 1990) is in her 10th year as head coach of the Northern Iowa Panthers and is currently 250-72. She has guided the Panthers to three MVC regular season titles, five MVC tournament crowns, and two NCAA Sweet 16 appearances. She ranks in the top 10 of active Division I coaches in winning percentage with UNI winning 20 or more games in eight of her nine years as head coach. Petersen served as an assistant coach for UNI prior to her appointment as head coach. As a player for Northern Iowa (1986-1989), the former Bobbi Becker was a three-time first team all-conference selection and two-time first team all-region pick. Her name is still in the record books including the mark for most kills in a game (40) which is also an all-time MVC record. In 2006 she was named to the Missouri Valley Conference All-Centennial Volleyball team.
Series History vs. Bradley
Indiana State is 25-29 all-time against Bradley. The Sycamores have lost four straight to the Braves in Peoria, Ill., with their last victory at Bradley coming in 2004 when ISU won 3-0. Indiana State has fared much better in Terre Haute as the Sycamores have defeated the Braves the last two times in the ISU Arena, including a 3-0 (29-27, 25-18, 25-13) win this season (Oct. 10). The 2004 season is the last time ISU swept the season series against the Braves as the Sycamores won at home 3-2 and then posted a 3-0 win on the road.
Series History vs. Northern Iowa
Indiana State is 3-45 all-time against Northern Iowa. The Sycamores have never won a game in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in 22 chances. Northern Iowa remains the only Valley school where the Sycamores have not recorded a road victory. All three of ISU's wins against the Panthers have come on the home court, the last one back in 1997 when the Sycamores prevailed 3-2.
Recapping last week
The Sycamores dropped three home games last week beginning with a hard fought 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 26-24) loss to the visiting Butler Bulldogs on Oct. 28. Indiana State hosted Southern Illinois on Oct. 30 and dropped another 3-0 decision (25-14, 15-25, 26-24), and then lost in three sets to visiting Evansville on Oct. 31 (25-19, 25-17, 25-20).
Stacy Qualizza had 24 kills (2.76 kps) and a 0.356 hitting percentage to lead the Sycamore attack last week while also leading the team with six blocks (three solo and three assists). Kelli Whitaker recorded 19 kills (3.80 kps) while playing just five of the nine sets, and Ana Maira Charun had 18 kills (2.25 kps) in eight sets. Whitney Fromm had 87 assists (9.67 aps) and Kiya James had 41 digs (4.56 dps).
