TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Indiana State volleyball team will wrap up its Missouri Valley Conference road portion of its schedule with a trip to Northern Iowa and Drake on Friday and Saturday. Each match is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET start times.
Indiana State Sycamores
Head Coach: Traci Dahl-Skinner
Career Record: 74-135 (7th Season)
Record at ISU: Same
2014 Record: 17-9
2014 MVC Record: 9-5
2014 Stat Leaders
Kills - 342, Bree Spangler
Hitting Percentage - 365, Cassandra Willis
Digs - 309, Stephanie Bindernagel
Assists - 1002, Erika Nord
Points - 374.5, Bree Spangler
Blocks - 53, Cassandra Willis
Aces - 31, Stephanie Bindernagel
Drake Bulldogs
Head Coach: Darrin McBroom
At Drake: 12-42 (2nd Season)
2014 Record: 10-15
2014 MVC Record: 2-12
Last Time Out: W, 3-0 at Evansville, L, 0-3 at Southern Illinois
Northern Iowa Panthers
Head Coach: Bobbi Peterson
At Northern Iowa: 387-105 (15th Season)
Career Record: Same
2014 Record: 17-9
2014 MVC Record: 11-3
Last Time Out: L, 2-3 at Southern Illinois, W, 3-0 at Evansville
Series Histories
vs. Drake: Indiana State trails 26-29
vs. Northern Iowa: Indiana State trails 3-54
Previously With...
Indiana State swept the weekend series with the two teams when they played in Terre Haute on Oct. 17-18. ISU handled the Bulldogs, 3-1, on Oct. led by four players with double-digit kills (Spangler (15), Willis (15), Peterson (12), Swigart (11)). The Sycamores reversed the curse against Northern Iowa on Oct. 18 when it claimed a 3-1 victory to snap a 33 match losing streak that dated back to 1997. Spangler recorded 21 kills and Peterson (16) and Willis (10) each landed in double-figures for the Sycamores who hit .286 on the night.
Scouting the Bulldogs
Drake enters the weekend series after snapping an 11 game losing streak at Evansville on Friday. They split the weekend series with the Purple Aces and Southern Illinois, as it was swept the following day in Carbondale. The Bulldogs are led by Kyla Inderski who owns a .203 hitting percentage and a team-high 255 kills (3.04 per set). Inderski also leads the team with 209 digs (2.04 per set). Chandell Davidson (525 assists) and Rebecca Brown (352 assists) have shared time at setter while Katie Dulek leads with 52 total blocks. As a team, Drake hits just .187 per match and averages 10.7 assists and 15.3 digs per set.
Scouting the Panthers
UNI has won the last five of six matches coming into Friday's contest with the Sycamores. The Panthers dropped a 3-2 decision to Southern Illinois on Friday in Carbondale but regrouped with a win over the Purple Aces to improve to 17-9 and 11-3 in the MVC. Northern Iowa is led by hitters Eryca Hingtgen (296 kills, 2.99 per set), Kayla Haneline (264, 2.69 per set) and Leigh Pudwill (260, 2.63 per set, .286 hitting percentage). In addition, Amie Held leads the back row defense with 343 digs (4.97 per set) along with Hingtgen (319, 2.22 per set). As a team, the Panthers hit .225 per match, which ranks fourth in the league.
News and Notes
Indiana State is coming of weekend victories over Bradley and Loyola at ISU Arena. The Sycamores posted a 3-1 win over Bradley before completing the sweep of Loyola on Saturday. ISU marked its second and third MVC series sweeps with the wins as it also swept Evansville earlier this season.
Junior middle blocker Cassandra Willis led Indiana State with a career-high 17 kills on Friday night in a 3-1 win over Bradley. She posted a .425 hitting percentage to help ISU hit .222 on the night along with three players with 13 digs each.
Senior middle blocker Kyla Thomas guided ISU to its second-straight sweep of Loyola on Saturday night. ISU swept both contest in the regular season, as Thomas recorded 10 kills on the night with a .467 hitting percentage. Freshman libero Danielle Waedekin led with 11 digs in the back row for ISU.
With the victory on Friday against Bradley, Indiana State secured the program's first winning season since 1982. The 17 current wins are the most under head coach Traci Dahl-Skinner.
In addition, the Sycamores tied its best conference mark since 2003 with a 9-5 overall record. One more win would secure the first winning MVC record in program history.
With a league-leading 151 aces on the season, ISU is 28th in the country in that category, averaging 1.51 aces per set.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Volleyball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
