The final weekend of the MVC regular season will be an exciting one with three teams vying for the final berth in the tournament including the Sycamores, Drake Bulldogs, and Bradley Braves while three others are looking to improve their seeding for the tournament including Missouri State, Wichita State, and Creighton.

The Sycamores will host second place Missouri State (20-7, 13-3 MVC) Friday and take on third place Wichita State (17-0, 11-5 MVC) Saturday. First serve for both games is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Friday's schedule also includes Bradley at Southern Illinois, Wichita State at Illinois State, and 11th ranked Northern Iowa at Evansville. Saturday is the final day of the regular season with Bradley playing at Evansville, Creighton visiting Drake, Northern Iowa at Southern Illinois, and Missouri State at Illinois State.

Northern Iowa is looking to finish the regular season undefeated for the third straight year and takes the top seed into the tournament. Missouri State must win at least one of their last two games to secure the second seed. Wichita State and Creighton are battling for the third seed with the Shockers needing a pair of wins to secure the third seed. Illinois State has the fifth seed.

Indiana State is currently sixth in the league standings with a 6-10 record with Drake seventh at 5-12 and Bradley eighth at 4-12. Bradley holds the tie-breaker edge if all three teams end the season with six wins.

Senior Weekend

Three Indiana State players will compete on the home court for the final time and all three were members of head coach Traci Dahl's first recruiting class as the Sycamore coach. Shelbi Fouty, Kiya James and Stacy Qualizza will be honored during pre-game ceremonies Saturday.

Fouty is a 5-foot-11 setter from Plainfield, Ind., who currently ranks seventh in career assists (1,788), 11th in career assists per set (4.56), seventh in career digs (952), and 15th in career digs per set (2.43). She has established several career game highs during her senior campaign including five kills at Southern Illinois, four aces against Chicago State, three blocks at Evansville, and seven points at Southern Illinois. Fouty also tied her career game high in digs with 21 at Bradley this season. The setter has a season high of 49 assists which she recorded at home against Drake and has a career game high of 62 assists recorded last season at Drake.

James is a 5-foot-3 libero from Indianapolis, Ind., who currently ranks third in career digs (1,664), second in career digs per set (3.86) and 24th in career service aces (64). She set a career high of 32 digs in a game against Evansville last season and has had 27 digs in a game three times this season. She has had four service aces in a game twice during her Indiana State career with a season high of three against New Hampshire.

Qualizza is a 6-foot-1 middle blocker from Crown Point, Ind., who currently ranks ninth in career kills (902), 19 h in career kills per set (2.31), 15th in career attempts (2,083), third in career attack percentage (.294), 13th in career solo blocks (37), ninth in career block assists (175), 11th in career total blocks (212), 13th in career points (1,028.5), and tied for 22nd in career points per set (2.64). The senior set a career game high of .742 hitting percentage at Evansville which is the second best single game hitting percentage in school history. She also had a career game high of seven blocks against Fairfield this season. The middle blocker had a career high 26 kills and 28 points against Evansville last season.

Fouty Named To Capital One District V All-Academic Team

Indiana State senior Shelbi Fouty was named to the Capital One All-Academic Second Team for District V for volleyball becoming the first member of the Indiana State volleyball program to receive the honor which is voted on the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Fouty is a setter for the Sycamores from Plainfield, Ind., and has a 3.98 grade point average while majoring in Speech Pathology. The Sycamore has 1,788 career assists which ranks seventh on the ISU all-time list. She has an average of 4.56 assists per set for her career (11th best all-time) while also recording 54 kills, 56 service aces, 952 digs (seventh best all-time), and 42 blocks. Fouty was a first team All-MVC Scholar Athlete in 2010 after being an honorable mention selection in 2009.

James Named MVC Defensive Player of the Week (Nov. 14)

Indiana State senior Kiya James has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season on Nov. 14. James is the first Libero and the sixth Sycamore to receive the honor since the awards were initiated in 1983 and the first to receive the award multiple times.

James continues to solidify the Sycamore defense, recording 36 digs last week (6.0 per set) which gives her 460 digs this season (sixth on the ISU all-time list) and 1,664 career digs (third on the ISU all-time list). James had 21 digs in a three-set loss to IUPUI Tuesday and came back with 15 digs in a three-set win over Illinois State Saturday.

The senior was named the MVC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 12 after leading ISU to the championship of the New Hampshire Tournament. Middle blocker Stacy Qualizza was named Player of the Week on Nov. 8, 2010 while setter Kerri Huffman was honored during the third week of the 1992 season, middle blocker Julie Meshberger received the honor in the first week of the 1995 season, outside hitter Karis Keeran in the ninth week of the 1997 season, and setter Megan Mirs in the sixth week of the 1999 season.

Qualizza In The Record Book

Senior middle blocker Stacy Qualizza moved into the top 10 of career kills last weekend and now has 902 career kills which is the ninth best in school history. She moved past Megan Lynch (893 kills from 1997-2000) and Mary Kay Bahnaman ( 901 kills from 1985-1989) with 11 kills last week. The senior is currently third all-time in career hitting percentage (.294) and 11th in total blocks (212). She needs 28 blocks in the remaining two games to equal Carolyn O'Brien who is currently 10th with 240 career total blocks.

Qualizza is enroute to setting the school record for single season hitting percentage as she takes a .387 hitting percentage into the final two games of the season. Julie Meshberger currently holds the school record with a .355 hitting percentage in the 1995 season. The Sycamore senior had a .289 hitting percentage in 2010 which is the seventh best single season performance in school history.

She also had the second best single game hitting percentage in school history after hitting .742 at Evansville on Nov. 4. Qualizza holds five of the top 10 single game hitting percentage marks and seven of the top 15.

Sycamores Post Most Wins Since 2003

Indiana State's 2011 volleyball team recorded their 14th win of the season this past weekend which is the most victories for a Sycamore team since the 2003 campaign. ISU won 11 games in 2010 and 12 in 2004 with the current squad now tied with the 2003, 2001, 2000 and 1987 teams in winning 14 games. The 1993 squad won 15 games with ISU winning 16 in 1996, 17 in 1989, 25 in 1981, and 34 in 1982.

The Sycamores currently have six Valley wins which is the most for an ISU team since the 2004 campaign when Indiana State won eight Valley contests.

First Time Around -

The Indiana State Sycamores could not wrestle the momentum away from the Missouri State Bears as they fell 0-3 (19-25, 17-25, 17-25) in a Missouri Valley Conference contest Sept. 17. Morgan Dall led the Sycamore attack with 12 kills in 43 attempts but she was the only ISU player in double figure kills. Stacy Qualizza added eight kills in 15 attempts with Monique Morris and Molly Murphy each recording three kills. Shelbi Fouty and Loni Mackinson continued to share duties as the Sycamore setter with Fouty recording 15 assists and Mackinson 14. Fouty also keyed the Sycamore defense with 17 digs while Mackinson had 15 and Kiya James 12. Samantha Kersting, Qualizza and Mackinson had two blocks each.

The 2011 Missouri Valley Conference season did not start well for the Indiana State Sycamores as they dropped a 0-3 (14-25, 19-25, 15-25) decision to the host Wichita State Shockers in the MVC opener for both teams on Sept. 16.  Junior Morgan Dall led the Sycamore offense with 13 kills but she was the only Indiana State hitter in double figures. Sophomore Monique Morris had six while freshman Samantha Kersting and senior Stacy Qualizza had three each. Senior Shelbi Fouty had 16 assists and senior Kiya James 10 digs while Kersting also had two blocks.

Last Time Out -

The Indiana State volleyball team took a big step towards returning to the Missouri Valley Conference post-season tournament with a 3-0 sweep (25-21, 25-22, 25-23) of the Illinois State Redbirds Saturday (Nov. 12) in the Indiana State Arena. Morgan Dall led the way for Indiana State with 17 kills while Shea Doran added 12. Stacey Qualizza added seven kills and moved into seventh on the all-time kill list at Indiana State with 902 career kills, passing Mary Kay Bahnaman who had 901 from 1985-1989. Dall is currently 12th on that list with 887 kills. Shelby Fouty had 38 assists in the game and moved up to seventh on the all-time list with 1,788 career assists. She moved past Amy Henken who had 1,755 assists from 1997-1997. Kiya James led the defense with 15 digs which gives her 1,664 career digs which ranks third on the ISU all-time list.

The Indiana State volleyball team looked to carry over its momentum from a three-game Missouri Valley Conference winning streak, but were stymied Tuesday (Nov. 8) by the visiting IUPUI Jaguars 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-19) in front of 188 fans at ISU Arena. Leading the way for Indiana State was the play of Molly Murphy who recorded 16 kills and also led in service aces with a pair. Kiya James had 21 digs to pace the team while Shelbi Fouty recorded 30 assists.

SCOUTING INDIANA STATE

The Sycamores (14-14, 6-10) won their fourth straight Missouri Valley Conference game with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-23) win over Illinois State last Saturday in the ISU Arena. It is the first time since 2003 that ISU has posted four straight Valley victories and the first time since 2003 that ISU has posted 14 wins in the regular season. Indiana State is 4-3 in Valley home games and 2-7 on the road.

Junior outside hitter Morgan Dall averages 4.53 kills per set (kps) and 4.00 kps in the Valley. Senior middle blocker Stacy Qualizza is averaging 2.65 kps  (2.75 kps in the Valley) while sophomore outside hitter Monique Morris is averaging 2.59 kps (2.91 kps in the Valley), sophomore Molly Murphy 1.68 kps (2.35 kps in the Valley), and junior outside hitter Shea Doran 1.85 kps (1.76 kps in the Valley).

The Sycamore attack begins with a pair of setters including senior Shelbi Fouty at 8.01 assists per set (aps) for the season and 7.45 aps in the Valley while sophomore Loni Mackinson averages 3.17 aps overall and 3.67 aps in the Valley.

Senior libero Kiya James keys the defense with 4.74 digs per set (dps) overall and 4.44 dps in the Valley. Morris is second at 3.04 dps (3.26 dps in the Valley) with Fouty at 3.02 dps (3.33 dps in the Valley) and Mackinson 2.42 dps (3.04 dps in the Valley).

Qualizza has 64 blocks this season (0.66 per set) and 38 in Valley play (0.67 per set) while freshman Samantha Kersting has 45 blocks this season (0.60 per set) and 33 in Valley play (0.58 per set).

SCOUTING MISSOURI STATE

The Bears (20-7 overall, 13-3 MVC) have won five straight including a pair of Valley games last weekend with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 25-22) win against Evansville Friday and a 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-19) win against Southern Illinois Saturday. Missouri State is 7-2 in Valley home games and 6-1 on the road this season.

Junior outside hitter Karen Rivatto leads the Missouri State attack with 3.20 kps (3.16 Valley) while freshman right side Olivia Brand averages 2.85 kps (3.27 Valley), sophomore outside hitter Christine McCartney 2.65 kps (2.16 Valley), and senior middle blocker Calli Norman averages 2.46 kps (2.38 Valley). Sophomore setter Carly Thomas is averaging 11.48 aps (11.52 Valley) with sophomore defensive specialist Ashley Mason averaging 4.56 dps (4.59 Valley). Norman leads the team in blocks with 109 this season (1.12 per set) and 68 in Valley action (1.17 per set).

SERIES AGAINST MISSOURI STATE - This is the 52nd meeting between Indiana State and Missouri State in a series which dates back to 1982. Missouri State holds a 50-2 edge in the series and is a perfect 23-0 in games played in the ISU Arena. ISU owns two victories against the Bears with the last one coming in Springfield, Mo., during the 1994 season when the Sycamores won 3-2. Indiana State has lost 36 straight to Missouri State.

SCOUTING WICHITA STATE

The Shockers (17-9, 11-5 MVC) have won three straight including a pair of Valley games this past weekend as they defeated Southern Illinois 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-23) Friday and Evansville 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-21) Saturday. Wichita State is 7-2 in Valley home games this season and 4-3 on the road.

Junior outside hitter Emily Adney leads the Wichita State offense with 3.37 kps (3.75 Valley) while senior outside hitter Camri Zwiesler averages 3.05 kps (3.00 Valley), and sophomore middle blocker Elizabeth Field 2.17 kps (2.45 Valley). Senior setter Mary Elizabeth Hooper averages 10.24 aps (11.07 Valley) while senior libero Sarah Waldorf averages 4.94 dps (4.98 Valley). Sophomore middle blocker Ashley Andrade has 98 blocks this season (1.04 per set) with 73 coming in Valley action (1.33 per set).

SERIES AGAINST WICHITA STATE - This is the 49th meeting between Indiana State and Wichita State in a series which dates back to 1983. The Shockers hold a 36-12 edge in the series including a 15-9 record in games played in the ISU Arena. The Sycamores have lost 18 straight including eight straight at home to the Shockers with the last ISU win coming in 2002 when Indiana State won 3-1 on the home court.

FOLLOWING THE SYCAMORES:

Visit www.gosycamores.com for links to live stats for both games this weekend. Click on the Live Statistics link under the Broadcasts & Media tab on the left side of the homepage for the exact link, go to the volleyball schedule page for the link, or copy and paste the link below.