TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State volleyball takes on an away-home split weekend for the second straight week, starting with a Thursday night visit to Bradley. The Sycamores will face Illinois State at home Saturday evening for their Pink Out match.
 
Both matches will air on ESPN+, with Thursday's match in Peoria starting at 7 p.m. ET and Saturday's home contest beginning at 6 p.m.
 
Last Time Out
Indiana State showed that it can compete with the perennial top teams in the Missouri Valley Conference. Unfortunately for the Sycamores, their fight fell just a few points short against Drake in a four-set defeat (25-21, 18-25, 26-24, 25-23) inside ISU Arena. Curry Kendall continued her strong start to Missouri Valley Conference play with a career-high 22 kills, leading all players in the match while surpassing 20 kills in a match for the first time in her career. Kendall also added 13 digs and a pair of aces to notch her third straight double-double. Corinne Knapp added 13 kills and matched her season high of seven digs, while Kira Holland also finished with a double-double with a10 kills and 10 digs. Avery Hales dished out 47 assists and added 13 digs, finishing with a double-double for the third straight match. Taylor Knuth etched her name into the Sycamore history books Saturday night with seven service aces, a program top-10 mark and the most by a Sycamore in a single match since the early stages of the 2023 season.
 
Indiana State gave homestanding Illinois State all it could handle in the finale of its three-match road trip inside CEFCU Arena, but the Redbirds outlasted the Sycamores in four sets (25-20, 25-10, 18-25, 25-23). Curry Kendall and Kira Holland led the Sycamores with 14 kills apiece, with Kendall adding career-highs of 18 digs and five blocks for her second straight double-double. Corinne Knapp tallied 13 kills for the Blue and White, while Avery Hales added a double-double with 34 assists and 12 digs.
 
Heating Up
Sycamore junior Curry Kendall recorded a pair of season-best performances in notching double-doubles against both Illinois State and Drake. Kendall registered a season-best 18 digs to go along with 14 kills against the Redbirds, and followed that with a career-best 22 kills and 13 digs against the Bulldogs.
 
Kendall's 22 kills against Drake were the most by a Sycamore in a match this season and ranked in the top five in the MVC for kills during a conference match this season.
 
Aced It
Indiana State senior Taylor Knuth became the third different Sycamore to set a program top-10 single-match mark in aces this season, tallying a career-best seven aces against Drake. Knuth's mark was tied for the most by a Sycamore during the rally scoring era and was the most in a conference match by anyone in the MVC this season.
 
Knuth (0.69) and Curry Kendall (0.55) are the top two played in the MVC in aces per set since the start of conference play, while Indiana State has averaged 1.67 aces per set for the season, a mark which is on pace to be the program's best since 1997.
 
Knuth (seven vs. Drake), Kendall (six at Murray State) and Corinne Knapp (six vs. Milwaukee) are responsible for three of the top five single-match ace totals in the MVC this season. The Sycamores are the only team in the MVC to have more than one athlete record a match with six or more aces this season, while Knuth and Kendall are responsible for the only two matches in conference play with five or more aces.
 
Among The Best
Since the start of conference play, Indiana State's Curry Kendall has been among the best players in the Missouri Valley. Kendall ranks fourth in kills per set (3.82), second in aces per set (0.55) and 20th in digs per set (2.82).
 
In addition, the Tulsa native also ranks in the top 30 for both hitting percentage (.214) and blocks per set (0.55) during conference play.
 
Kendall has already set single-season highs for kills (212) and aces (16), while her 33 total blocks are just four shy of last year's total. She also needs less than 50 digs to reach a new single-season high in that mark.
 
The Chase For 1,000
Sycamore senior outside hitter Kira Holland has recorded double-digit kills in each of her last four matches and is currently on milestone watch, needing just 24 kills to reach 1,000 for her career.
 
Should she accomplish the feat, Holland would be the 13th Sycamore with 1,000 career kills and the first to do so since 2016. Just two Sycamores – Morgan Dall (2009-13) and Bree Spangler (2013-16) – have reached 1,000 career kills during the 25-point rally scoring era.
 
Up Next
Indiana State heads north for matches at UIC (Oct. 23) and Valparaiso (Oct. 24).

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