TERRE HAUTE, IND. - The Indiana State Sycamores will continue their remarkable season this week as they end a seven year drought by playing in the 2011 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament this week in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Indiana State is the sixth seed and will play third seeded Wichita State at 6 p.m. (ET) Thursday in the quarterfinals.
Indiana State, 14-16 overall, closed out the regular season with a close, hard-fought loss at home to Wichita State (19-9) Saturday night. The Sycamores did have six Valley wins heading into this past weekend's action which were good enough to earn them the sixth seed in the upcoming tournament.
After another competitive regular-season slate, the 2011 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Championship field is set as tournament seeds came down to Saturday's final matches of the regular-season. UNI had already locked up the No. 1 seed entering this weekend's matches, but the Panthers completed their third straight perfect MVC regular-season with a 3-0 win at Southern Illinois.
Missouri State, which had already clinched the No. 2 seed, came back from two sets down to top Illinois State (No. 5 seed). Wichita State was a 3-0 winner over Indiana State (No. 6 seed), making the Shockers the No. 3 seed, while Creighton took down Drake to lock up the No. 4 seed. Evansville, a 3-1 winner over Bradley, spoiled the Braves chances at the final spot in next week's tournament.
The State Farm MVC Volleyball Championship will get underway when No. 3 Wichita State takes on No. 6 Indiana State in the tournament opener on Thursday, Nov. 24, at 6:00 p.m., followed by No. 4 Creighton vs. No. 5 Illinois State at 8:30 p.m. The game one winner between WSU/INS will take on No. 2 Missouri State on Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. in the first semifinal while the CU/ILS winner will face host and No. 1 UNI in the second semifinal at 8:30 p.m. on Friday.
Semifinal winners will face off for the Missouri Valley Conference automatic berth into the NCAA Volleyball Championship on Saturday, Nov. 26 at 7:37 p.m.
Both opening round and semifinal matches are available on MVC Live - the league's video-streaming package, while the championship contest on Saturday will be televised live on Fox Sports Midwest at 7:37 p.m.
Final MVC Regular-Season Standings
No. 1 UNI (18-0 MVC)
No. 2 Missouri State (15-3 MVC)
No. 3 Wichita State (13-5 MVC)
No. 4 Creighton (12-6 MVC)
No. 5 Illinois State (9-9 MVC)
No. 6 Indiana State (6-12 MVC)
Thursday, Nov. 24
6 p.m. - No. 3 WSU vs. No. 6 INS
8:30 p.m. - No. 4 CU vs. No. 5 ILS
Friday, Nov. 25
6 p.m. - No. 2 Missouri State vs. Winner of WSU/INS
8:30 p.m. - No. 1 UNI vs. Winner of CU/ILS
Saturday, Nov. 26
7:37 p.m. - Championship Match
