TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State and Butler face off for a pair of matches in a two-day span starting Friday at 7 p.m. inside Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Sycamores and Bulldogs close out the weekend Saturday at 5 p.m. inside ISU Arena for the Trees' 2024 home opener.
Friday's match will be available on the Butler Athletics YouTube, while Saturday's match will be carried by ESPN+.
Matchday Promotions
Saturday's match has been designated as the Sycamores' Mental Health Matters match. Indiana State will wear green ribbons in support of mental health awareness.
Prior to the match, Piper Watkins, Miss Indiana State, will sing the national anthem, while Suzy Head, Miss Crossroads to America, will sign-language the national anthem.
Last Time Out
Indiana State went 1-2 at the GSU Invitational to open its 2024 season, defeating Georgia State in five sets before falling to Florida A&M in three sets and South Dakota State in four sets.
Emily Weber was named to the GSU Invitational All-Tournament Team after recording 93 assists, 22 digs and 15 kills over the course of the weekend. Weber had the match-clinching kill against Georgia State.
Road Warriors
Indiana State got a major monkey off its back in the 2024 season opener, defeating Georgia State in five sets to begin the season.
The win was the first win in a season opener for the Sycamores since the 2018 season, and also snapped a 24-match road losing streak which dated back to November 2021. Indiana State's first win of the season was a balanced effort, as six different Sycamores had six or more kills, while five different Sycamores had six or more digs.
The Trees also had 12 aces, with four different Indiana State players –
Cadence Gilley,
Emma Kaelin,
Ella Scott and
Emmy Sher – having three aces in the win over the Panthers.
Starting Off Strong
Indiana State setter
Emily Weber had a weekend to remember in her debut in Sycamore Blue. Weber was named to the GSU Invitational All-Tournament team after recording 93 assists, 22 digs and 15 kills across three matches for the Trees.
Weber's final kill in the season opener at Georgia State was a big one, as it was the match clincher to snap Indiana State's lengthy road losing streak. In addition, she also surpassed 1500 assists for her career in Atlanta.
Aced It
Indiana State already started its season from the service line on a high note, recording 26 aces across its opening three sets. Six different Sycamores (
Cadence Gilley,
Chloe Gilley,
Emma Kaelin, Ella Scot,
Emmy Sher and Emilly Weber) had three or more aces during the weekend, while the Trees' 2.2 aces per set ranked second in the MVC for the opening weekend of play.
Indiana State finished the 2023 season with 145 service aces, an improvement by 55 compared to the 2022 season. The Sycamores' exploits from behind the service line was a balanced effort last season, as seven different players registered double-digit service aces for the season.
Three different Sycamores recorded more than 20 service aces in 2023, with
Emma Kaelin (30),
Ella Scott (26) and
Macy Lengacher (24) reaching the mark. In addition,
Avery Hales (19),
Kira Holland (15),
Karinna Gall (11) and
Cadence Gilley (11) had double-digit aces in 2023. With the exception of Gall, all of those athletes return for the Sycamores in 2024.
Youth Movement
Indiana State features one of the youngest rosters in the Missouri Valley Conference for the second straight season. The Sycamores' opening weekend rotation featured seven freshmen and sophomores, and that doesn't factor in reigning MVC Freshman of the Year
Kira Holland, who is working her way back from injury.
More than 60 percent of Indiana State's kills and 65 percent of the Sycamores' digs recorded during the opening weekend came from freshmen or sophomores.
Home Sweet Hulman
Indiana State will play regular season volleyball matches inside Hulman Center for the first time in nearly 20 years in 2024, as Director of Athletics Nathan Christensen announced that four Sycamore home contests will be moved from ISU Arena to Hulman Center.
Indiana State's conference-opening weekend against UIC (Sept. 27) and Valparaiso (Sept. 28), along with the Sycamores' Senior Weekend against Belmont (Nov. 8) and Murray State (Nov. 9), will take place inside Hulman Center. The Sycamores' six remaining home matches will stay inside ISU Arena, where Indiana State played to near-capacity crowds in 2023.
The four matches mark the first time since the 2007 season that a regular season volleyball match will be played in Hulman Center and the first time in the 25-point era that a volleyball match will be contested inside the venue. Indiana State went 1-1 that season in Hulman Center, defeating Chicago State in four sets and falling to Illinois State in three sets. Hulman Center was also the site of the 2000 Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Championship, in which Indiana State reached the quarterfinals.
Butler At A Glance
Butler enters the weekend at 0-4 and is coming off a four-set midweek loss to IU Indianapolis. The Bulldogs went 0-3 in their opening weekend, though they did take a set off nationally-ranked Arizona State.
Abby Maesch leads the Bulldogs with 54 kills and is responsible for more than one-third of Butler's kills this season. Cora Taylor has dished out 112 assists, while Sawyer Jones, Grace Boggess and Destiny Cherry all have double-digit blocks. Lauren Evans leads the team with 56 digs.
Butler brings an experienced squad into head coach Kyle Shondell's second season, as the Bulldogs lost just one player from their 2023 rotation. Shondell enters the weekend with a 13-20 record at the helm of the Bulldog program, and led Butler to a 7-11 mark in Big East play a season ago.
Series History vs. Butler
Butler has an 18-8 advantage in the all-time series and has won each of the last three meetings between the programs. The Bulldogs defeated the Sycamores in three sets last season in a neutral-site match in Morehead, Kentucky.
Indiana State has never won at Butler (0-12), while the Sycamores have a 6-3 advantage in matches played in Terre Haute. The Trees are 2-3 in neutral-site matches against Butler.
Up Next
Indiana State heads south for the Beale Street Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, Sept. 13-14. The Sycamores will face Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Sept. 13), Lamar (Sept. 14) and Memphis (Sept. 14) during their time in Tennessee.
Follow the Sycamores
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. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from both the
App Store and the
Google Play Store.
- #MarchOn -
