Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
SETTING THE STAGE
Fresh off earning a championship last week at the 2016 Marriott Invitational in Birmingham, Ala., the Sycamores move on to the second weekend of the season with a three-game stretch as part of the Capital Classic in Charleston, W.V. Indiana State plays twice on Friday, September 2 as they play West Virginia at 10 a.m. (ET) and then Morehead State at 5 p.m. On Saturday, September 3, the Sycamores will take on Marshall at 1 p.m.
Series History
West Virginia
All Time Series: WVU Leads 2-1
Last Meeting: 2007 at WVU (L, 0-3)
Under Coach Dahl-Skinner: 0-0
Morehead St.
All Time Series: Tied at 3-3-1
Last Meeting: 2015 at MSU (W, 3-2)
Under Coach Dahl-Skinner: 1-1
Marshall
All Time Series: ISU leads 6-2
Last Meeting: 2015 vs. MAR (L, 1-3)
Under Coach Dahl-Skinner: 0-1
THE HEAD COACH
Traci Dahl-Skinner
9th season (93-157)
FOR OPENERS
Indiana State opened its 40th season of volleyball last weekend at the Marriott Invitational on the campus of Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. The Sycamores fell to 16-24 all-time in season opening contests, dating back to the first recorded season of record in 1977. Indiana State opened with South Alabama and the match went five sets which marks the fifth time in the last six years that the Sycamores have had at least one match on opening weekend go the distance.
GRIFFIN NAMED MVP
Indiana State junior setter Rachel Griffin was named the Most Valuable Player Of The 2016 Marriott Invitational after the Sycamores won the event with victories over Samford and Nicholls State. Griffin recorded 125 set assists over the three-game stretch and averaged 11.3 assists per set. She also added nine kills and a .471 attack percentage. Griffin posted a pair of service aces with 24 digs and six block assists as well. She opened the week with a career-best 55 assists in the season opener against South Alabama. She added nine digs with three kills. Griffin added 32 assists and nine digs with one kill in the sweep of Samford and then had 38 assists with five kills and six digs in the tournament clinching win over Nicholls State.
STAR SPANGLER BANNER
Indiana State senior outside hitter Bree Spangler joined Rachel Griffin on the Marriott Invitational All-Tournament team. Spangler posted 37 kills, an average of 3.35 per set with an attack percentage of .345. She added three service aces with 29 digs and two block assists.
KAWA MAKES STRONG ISU DEBUT
Redshirt freshman Cassie Kawa tallied 20 kills with a .417 attack percentage over a three-game stretch that saw the Sycamores capture the 2016 Marriott Invitational Championship. Kawa tallied seven kills and a .455 attack percentage with a pair of block assists against South Alabama. She added three kills, three digs and four block assists against Samford, and had her best match of the week against Nicholls State with 10 kills on 13 attempts for a sparkling attack percentage of .769. She added one service aces and three block assists against NSU.
EVERY GOOD TUNE HAS A MELODY
Melody Burdette posted 22 kills in the season opener against South Alabama, which marked the first time a Sycamore has gone over the 20-kill mark in a match since Morgan Dall did it in 2013 against Northern Iowa.
WINNING IS HABIT FORMING
Indiana State won the 2016 Marriott Invitational with victories over host Samford and Nicholls State during the opening weekend of the college volleyball season. It marks the third consecutive season that the Sycamores have won an early season tournament. During that stretch it is the first time the Sycamores have captured an early season tournament championship away from the ISU Arena.
20 AND UNDER ONLY ALLOWED
The Sycamores opened the season with a five-set match against South Alabama. It marked the fifth time in the last six seasons that the Sycamores have gone five sets in at least one match during their opening weekend of play. Indiana State held South Alabama under 20 points in each of the final two sets during the season opener and held both Samford and Nicholls State under 20 points in the next matches and now are riding an eight-set streak of holding an opponents under 20 points.
PLAYING THE PERCENTAGES
Over the opening weekend's three-game stretch which saw the Sycamores record a 2-1 mark, the Sycamores recorded 157 kills against the opposition's 111 and ISU's attack percentage of .350 dwarfed that of South Alabama, Samford and Nicholls State who posted a combined .172. Indiana State also dominated at the net with 23 total blocks on the weekend while opponents had 15. In fact, the Sycamores recorded just over four more kills per set than their opponents on opening weekend and had nearly one more block per set that the opposition. Through the first week of play, the Sycamores rank fifth nationally with a .350 attack percentage, which ranks first in the MVC.
BACK TO BACK WINNERS
With its victory on November 13, 2015 at Evansville, Indiana State secured the program's first back-to-back winning seasons since 1981 & 1982. The Sycamores finished above .500 last season with a 17-16 overall record after compiling a 17-13 overall record in 2014. Indiana State will be vying for its first-ever third consecutive winning campaign in 2016.
SYCAMORES PICKED 7TH IN THE MVC
The Sycamores have been picked to finish seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference standings as announced late this summer by the league office. Wichita State was picked to defend its conference championship. Indiana State begins conference play on Friday, September 16 at home against Bradley as part of the Indiana State Tournament.
SMART SYCAMORES
ISU earned its 18th straight AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2015 season. The streak is the longest among all schools and ties Drury University (Division II) for the longest streak in the history of the award.
UP NEXT
The Sycamores will face off against UNC-Wilmington, North Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette at the North Texas Invitational in Denton, Texas on September 9-10. ISU opens against UNC-Wilmington on Sept. 9 at 11:30 p.m. before playing host North Texas at 8:30 p.m. On September 10, the Sycamores will play Louisiana-Lafayette at 10:00 a.m.
