TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State Volleyball returns to Missouri Valley Conference action Friday and Saturday as it hosts Drake and Northern Iowa in matches at ISU Arena. Both matches are slated for 7 p.m. start times and live video and stats will be available on GoSycamores.com.

ISU will host its annual Pink Night on Friday versus the Bulldogs. The Susan G. Komen Wabash Valley will be on hand to collect donations and the Sycamores will wear pink jerseys to honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Indiana State Sycamores

Head Coach: Traci Dahl-Skinner

Career Record: 69-133 (7th Season)

Record at ISU: Same

2014 Record: 12-7

2014 MVC Record: 4-3

2014 Stat Leaders

Kills - 249, Bree Spangler

Hitting Percentage - .373, Cassandra Willis

Digs - 245, Stephanie Bindernagel

Assists - 720, Erika Nord

Points - 272.0, Bree Spangler

Blocks - 57, Cassandra Willis

Aces - 27, Stephanie Bindernagel

Drake Bulldogs

Head Coach: Darrin McBroom

At Drake: 11-37 (2nd Season)

2014 Record: 9-9

2014 MVC Record: 1-6

Last Time Out: L, 1-3 vs. Southern Illinois

L, 1-3 vs. Evansville

UNI Panthers

Head Coach: Bobbi Peterson

Career Record: 382-102 (15th Season)

At UNI: Same

2014 Record: 12-6

2014 MVC Record: 7-0

Last Time Out: W, 3-0 vs. Evansville

W, 3-0 vs. Southern Illinois

Series Histories

vs. Drake: Indiana State trails, 25-29

vs. UNI: Indiana State trails, 2-54

Scouting the Bulldogs

Drake dropped home contests to Southern Illinois and Evansville, both to 3-1 scores, this in action last weekend. As a team, they rank seventh in the MVC in hitting percentage (.192), sixth in opponent hitting percentage (.222) and blocks (1.84 per set), fifth in service aces (87, 1.28) and third in digs (15.47). Kyla Inderski ranks seventh in the league with 186 kills (3.15 per set) while Chandlelle Davidson is 10th in assists (388, 5.71 per set) and third in service aces (21, 0.31 per set). Michelle Thommi is fourth in digs with 300 (4.41 per set). 

Scouting the Panthers

UNI leads the Missouri Valley Conference in dugs (17.53 per set), kills (13.71 per set), assists (12.54 per set) and team attacks (37.57 per set). Junior setter Kinsey Caldwell was named the MVC Player of the Week for her play in leading UNI to sweeps of Evansville and Southern Illinois. She ranks second in the league in service aces/set (0.44).

News and Notes

Indiana State wrapped up its conference portion of the schedule on Tuesday in a 3-1 loss at Saint Louis. The Sycamores posted an 8-4 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.

Sophomore outside hitter Bree Spangler recorded a team-high 15 kills while five different players posted seven kills or more. Senior middle blocker Kyla Thomas posted a team-high .429 hitting percentage to accompany five blocks. Freshman libero Danielle Waedekin turned in 18 digs while freshman defensive specialist Stephanie Bindernagel added 15. As a team, Indiana State hit .261 and posted eight total blocks.

Spangler earned MVC Scholar Athlete accolades for her performances against Bradley and Loyola in action Oct. 10-11. The Coldwater, Mich. native recorded 22 total kills on a .213 hitting percentage to go along with 15 digs, a team-high five service aces, three blocks and 28.5 total points. Against the Ramblers, the sophomore outside hitter tied a team-high nine kills with six digs and two services aces. Versus the Braves, Spangler led with 13 kills on a .324 hitting percentage with just two errors on the evening and helping ISU hit .292 overall. She narrowly missed out on a double-double, adding nine digs to go along with three services aces and two blocks for 17.0 total points.

In Missouri Valley Conference action last 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 (112 1.56 per set), second in hitting percentage (.232) and assists (881, 12.24 per set),  third in opponent hitting percentage (.189) and kills (940 13.06 per set), and sixth in digs (1070, 14.86 per set).

Individually, Willis (.373) and senior middle blocker Kyla Thomas (.369) rank second and third, respectively, in hitting percentage. Junior setter Erika Nord is fourth in assists (10.55 per set) while freshman libero Stephanie Bindernagel leads in service aces (27, 0.38 per set) and 10th in digs (3.38 per set). Sophomore outside hitter Bree Spangler ranks fifth in kills (3.46 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).

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.