TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – With just three weekends remaining in the regular season, the Indiana State Volleyball team looks to keep its position in the Missouri Valley Conference standings when it hosts Bradley and Loyola on Friday and Saturday in ISU Arena.  Both matches are slated for 7:05 p.m. ET matchups

Fans with a valid ticket stub to the Indiana State football game versus South Dakota State on Saturday will receive free admission at the door for the ISU matchup with Loyola. 

Indiana State Sycamores

Head Coach: Traci Dahl-Skinner

Career Record: 72-135 (7th Season)

Record at ISU: Same

2014 Record: 15-9

2014 MVC Record: 7-5

2014 Stat Leaders

Kills - 328, Bree Spangler

Hitting Percentage - .363, Cassandra Willis

Digs -289, Stephanie Bindernagel

Assists - 933, Erika Nord

Points - 356.5, Bree Spangler

Blocks - 69, Cassandra Willis

Aces - 31, Stephanie Bindernagel

Series Histories

vs. Bradley: Indiana State trails 25-37

vs. Loyola: Indiana State trails 3-8

Previously With...

On the road on Oct. 10-11, the Sycamores swept the Ramblers and Braves each in 3-0 victories. The Sycamores held the Ramblers to a .076 hitting percentage in the first meeting of the teams in Chicago on Oct. 10. A balanced offense attack helped the Sycamores post a 3-0 victory (25-16, 25-22, 25-18)bas Bree Spangler led with nine kills while Kynedi Nalls added eight. Against the Braves, Cassandra Willis posted tied an Indiana State single-game record with a combined seven block for the convincing 3-0 win (25-12, 25-14, 25-13).

Bradley Braves

Head Coach: Jenny Maurer

At Bradley:  35-72 (5th Season)

Career Record: 75-141

2014 Record: 1-22

2014 MVC Record: 1-11

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

Scouting the Braves

Bradley posted its first win of the season on Saturday at Evansville in a 3-0 decision. Taylor Thiele leads the team with 192 kills on the season, but the Braves are out-hit by its opponents (.104-.244) on the season. Thiele also leads in digs for the Braves (214) while Afton Sobasky has dished out 539 assists. As a team, Bradley hits a league-worst .104 and is allowing opponents to hit .224.

Loyola Ramblers

Head Coach: Chris Muscat

At Loyola: 41-58 (4th Season)

Career Record: Same

2014 Record: 7-15

2014 MVC Record: 3-10

Last Time Out: L, 1-3 vs. Evansville, L, 0-3 vs. Southern Illinois

Scouting the Ramblers

Loyola looks to get back on track after dropping 0-3 contest to visiting Evansville and Southern Illinois last weekend. Morgan Reardon leads the conference in kills (325, 4.06 per set) while setter Caroline Holt also dishes out a league-leading 11.44 assists per set (904 total). Reardon is also second in points (363.0, 4.54 per set) while as a team Loyola hits just .186 overall. In addition, they're sixth in kills (13.05 per set) and assists (12.45 per set) and fifth in blocks (1.92 per set).

News and Notes

·         Indiana State is coming off a 3-0 loss to league-leading Illinois State on Friday in Normal. Sophomore outside hitter Bree Spangler recorded a team-high 13 kills and freshman libero Danielle Waedekin chipped in 12 digs. As a team, Indiana State hit .283 on the night, but the Redbirds bested that mark with its own .308 percentage and two players in double-digit kills.

·         The Sycamores need one more win to secure the program's first winning season since 1982 when it went 37-10. The 15 current wins are the most under head coach Traci Dahl-Skinner and are two conference wins shy of tying the best mark since 2003 when it went 9-9.

·         Indiana State has earned quality points out of its bench in recent weeks. Freshman outside hitter Sarah Peterson has combined for 59 kills in eight games (2.57 per set) while defensive specialist Taylor Reckards has come off the bench for six aces. Going 5-3 in its last eight matches, ISU has hit .247 and out-dug (448-371) and out-assisted (368-308) its opponents in that time frame as well.

·         Sophomore outside hitter Bree Spangler continues to be the consistent force for the Sycamores this season. She posted 13 kills in Friday's loss to Illinois State which marked her 21st game in double-digit kills. She also posted a season-high .400 hitting percentage on Friday where she went 13-2-31 in the three set match.

·         With a league-leading 136 aces on the season, ISU is 36th in the country in that category, averaging 1.51 aces per set.

·         As a team, the Sycamores are ranked in the top of a variety of MVC stats as they lead in service aces (136, 1.51 per set), third in hitting percentage (.235) and opponent hitting percentage (.198) and fifth in digs (1354, 15.04 per set), fourth in assists (1130, 12.56 per set) and kills (1207, 13.41 per set).

·         Individually, Willis (.366) and senior middle blocker Kyla Thomas (.334) rank third and sixth respectively, in hitting percentage. Junior setter Erika Nord is fourth in assists (10.85 per set) while freshman libero Stephanie Bindernagel leads in service aces (31, 0.34 per set) set) while sophomore defensive specialist Shannon Murphy is third (27, 0.30 per set). Sophomore outside hitter Bree Spangler ranks fourth in kills (328, 3.64 per set) and fifth in total points (356.5, 3.9 per set).

·         Freshman outside hitter Sarah Peterson continued to come in key off the bench for Indiana State last weekend on the road. The freshman outside hitter combined for 17 kills (2.43 per set) and seven digs as Indiana State improved to 7-4 in MVC play. Against Southern Illinois, the Seven Hills, Ohio native recorded seven kills and five digs. She turned around against Evansville the next night to throw down 10 kills on a .300 hitting percentage (10-4-20) to go along with two kills.

·         Indiana State's seven Missouri Valley Conference wins ties for its most league wins under head coach Traci Dahl-Skinner. The Sycamores also posted seven wins in Dahl-Skinner's second season in 2009. ISU needs just two more conference wins to tie its best league mark as it posted nine wins in 1994 and 2003.

·         Indiana State wraps up its conference road schedule on Nov. 14-15 at Drake and UNI. Both matches are set for 8 p.m. ET first serves.

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.