TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Indiana State volleyball team will wrap the non-conference portion of its schedule when it travels to Saint Louis on Tuesday. Match time is slated for 8 p.m. ET at Chaifetz Pavillion. Live stats are available for the midweek match.
Indiana State Sycamores
Head Coach: Traci Dahl-Skinner
Career Record: 69-132 (7th Season)
Record at ISU: Same
2014 Record: 12-6
2014 MVC Record: 4-3
2014 Stat Leaders
Kills - 234, Bree Spangler
Hitting Percentage - .371, Cassandra Willis
Digs - 230, Stephanie Bindernagel
Assists - 679, Erika Nord
Points - 256.5, Bree Spangler
Blocks - 54, Cassandra Willis
Aces - 26, Stephanie Bindernagel
Saint Louis Billikens
Head Coach: Kent Miller (4th Season)
Career Record: 188-281 (16th Season)
At Saint Louis: 52-56
2014 Record: 14-6
A-10 Record: 4-2
Last Time Out: W, 3-0 at George Mason
W, 3-1 at George Washington
Series History
vs. Saint Louis - Indiana State leads 10-8
Last meeting: Indiana State def. SLU, 3-2 (10-22-13)
Scouting the Billikens
SLU is coming off a pair of Atlantic 10 road wins at George Washington and George Mason over the weekend. As a team, the Billikens hit .227 and average 12.45 assists, 1.66 aces, 14.75 digs and 1.98 blocks per set. They are led by Danielle Rygelski who has tallied 239 kills (3.68 per set) and setter Meredith Boe with 832 assists (10.81 per set). Megan Gilbert leads SLU with a .285 hitting percentage and a team-high 50 blocks. Anna Church leads with 329 digs and 22 service aces. Notable wins for the Billikens this season include a five set victory at Southeastern Conference Missouri and at Big 10 Purdue as it compiled a 10-4 non-conference records so far.
News and Notes
Indiana State wraps up the non-conference portion of its schedule on Tuesday at SLU. The two teams are meeting for the second time in 10 years as it renewed its rivalry last season in a 3-2 thriller in Terre Haute. The Sycamores currently own a 8-3 non-conference record in 2014, it's best non-conference mark in the Traci Dahl-Skinner era. ISU previously posted an 8-5 record in 2010 in its non-conference slate under Dahl-Skinner.
In Missouri Valley Conference action this weekend, the Sycamores picked up back-to-back sweeps for the first time since 2001 at Loyola and Bradley. On Friday in Chicago, the Sycamores used a balanced attack with four players with six kills or more to best the Ramblers in straight-sets. Traveling to Peoria on Sunday, ISU used 13 kills from Bree Spangler and seven blocks from Cassandra Willis for their second-straight 3-0 win.
As a team, the Sycamores are ranked in the top of a variety of MVC stats as they lead in service aces (109 1.60 per set), are second in hitting percentage (.230), opponent hitting percentage (.182), assists (835, 12.28 per set) and kills (891 13.10 per set), and sixth in digs (1008, 14.82 per set).
Individually, Willis (.371) and senior middle blocker Kyla Thomas (.366) rank second and third, respectively, in hitting percentage. Junior setter Erika Nord is third in assists (10.55 per set) while freshman libero Stephanie Bindernagel leads in service aces (26, 0.38 per set) and 10th in digs (3.38 per set). Sophomore outside hitter Bree Spangler ranks fifth in kills (3.44 per set) and sixth in total points (3.77 per set). Sophomore defensive specialist Shannon Murphy is tied for third in service aces (22, 0.32 per set).
Senior middle blocker Kyla Thomas is turning up the offense seven games into conference play. She holds a .371 hitting percentage with 49 kills and 20 total blocks. She's also one of three players to play in all 26 sets of conference action for the Sycamores this season.
Junior middle blocker Cassandra Willis recorded a combined 10 blocks in action this weekend for the Sycamores. She tied a career-high seven blocks against Bradley on Saturday and currently leads the team with 54 total blocks.
Indiana State returns to the court on Friday and Saturday when it hosts Drake and Northern Iowa at ISU Arena. Match times for both are slated at 7 p.m. ET.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Women's Volleyball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
