The Missouri State volleyball team (24-5, 13-3 Missouri Valley Conference) closes the regular season this weekend at Bradley (3-26, 2-14) and UNI (19-9, 13-3) with conference tournament seeding on the line. The Bears can lock up the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye with a victory at UNI. Missouri State hosts the State Farm MVC Tournament over Thanksgiving weekend.
Live stats for the UNI match will be available at www.missouristatebears.com. Just click "Live Stats" on the left side of the home page and select the appropriate match. Live audio of both matches can be accessed online at http://thegrowl.missouristate.edu.
THE OPPONENTS Bradley enters the season’s final weekend at 3-26 and 2-14 in the league, with both wins coming against Indiana State. Senior Nikki Pierzchala leads the team with 3.00 kills per game, and five regulars average at least two per game. The Braves are sixth in the MVC in blocking with a 2.32 per game average.
Missouri State swept BU by scores of 30-16, 30-18 and 30-24 in the first meeting and ran up a season-high 14 service aces in the match.
UNI is 19-9 overall and 13-3 in the league while leading the conference in hitting percentage (.267), kills per game (16.70) and blocking (3.32). After sputtering early in the year, the Panthers have won 10 straight matches entering Friday’s contest with Wichita State. Five Panthers average at least 2.6 kills per game and Ashten Stelken (1.58) and Danielle Brazda (1.53) are the top two blockers in the MVC.
The Bears beat UNI in five games Sept. 14 in Springfield, winning 18-16 in the fifth game.
THE SERIES Missouri State holds a 33-7 series edge with Bradley and has won the last 14 matchups with the Braves. The Bears have not lost to Bradley in Peoria since 2000, and have taken game one from the Braves in the last 10 meetings.
The all-time series with UNI is 35-17 in favor of the Panthers, but the Bears have taken four of the last eight meetings since losing 15-of-17 from 1998-2004. MSU was 1-19 all-time against UNI at the West Gym, but the Panthers closed that venue last season and the Bears will be making their first trip to the McLeod Center this week.
COACH MELISSA STOKES Missouri State head coach Melissa Stokes (San Diego State, 1991) is 269-119 (.693) in her 12th season at Missouri State. A native of El Cajon, Calif., Stokes has guided Missouri State to an overall record of 198-62 (.762) and 115-26 (.816) in the Missouri Valley Conference since 2000. In 2003, the Bears were the MVC regular-season champions and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1993. MSU made a return trip to the NCAAs in 2005 after winning the MVC Tournament, and advanced to the second round for the first time in program history in 2006, defeating Arkansas before falling to No. 13 Oklahoma in the second round.
Stokes came to Missouri State from the University of Idaho, where she helped the Vandals to four straight NCAA Tournament berths. As a setter at San Diego State, Stokes played four seasons and helped the Aztecs to two NCAA appearances. She recorded her 100th career victory in the Bears’ five-game win over Manhattan College, Sept. 1, 2001 and coached the 250th victory of her Missouri State career against Florida State, Aug. 31, 2007. Stokes ranked 37th among active Division I coaches in win percentage entering 2007.
LAST WEEK Missouri State split home matches with Creighton and Drake but maintained a tie for second place in the league entering the final weekend.
On Friday, MSU outside hitters Jamie Adams and Sara Staubach combined for 35 kills, but the offense was only able to hit .138 thanks to 15.5 blocks by the Bluejays. CU’s Kelly Goc had 19 kills and hit .415.
The Bears rebounded to sweep Drake Saturday on Senior Night, with the three senior leading the way. Sara Thomas had 14 kills, 16 digs and eight blocks, Jamie Adams had 11 kills, and Katelyn Panzau hit .750 with seven kills, 44 assists and nine digs in the win. The defense limited the Bulldogs to a .076 attack efficiency.
QUICK HITS
The Bears are 5-3 in 2007 against teams that have received votes for at least one week in the AVCA Top 25 poll.
Melissa Stokes became the third coach in league history to earn 150 MVC wins with a victory at Creighton Oct. 13. She is currently 155-59 (.724) in league matches. She needs two more MVC wins to tie former Illinois State coach Julie Morgan for second all-time.
Missouri State has held all but one opponent this season to a .225 or lower hitting percentage.
MSU received votes in the AVCA Top 25 for 10 weeks this season and reached as high as 29th on two occasions.
Stokes earned her 250th career victory when the Bears defeated Florida State on Aug. 31.
Missouri State ranks among the nation’s top 80 in the following categories through Nov. 11. There are 325 Division teams in the rankings:
18th in digs per game (19.18)
23rd in winning percentage (.828)
29th in blocks per game (2.99)
47th in kills per game (16.10)
54th in assists per game (14.63)
76th in hitting percentage (.232)
Katelyn Panzau ranks 75th in the NCAA with 12.04 assists per game and Sara Thomas is 97th in blocking with a 1.23 per game average.
Sara Thomas became the 17th player in MSU history to reach the 1,000-dig mark Oct. 19 against Illinois State and now ranks 13th with 1,087.
Thomas has one of 10 kill-block-dig triple-doubles in the country this season, doing so Oct. 5 against Wichita State. She is the only player in school history with a triple-double of that variety and one of kills, assists and digs.
Thomas is the only player in the MVC averaging at least three kills (3.17), three digs (3.56) and one block (1.23) per game.
Sara Thomas, Jamie Adams and Sara Staubach have all posted matches with 20 or more kills this season.
Those three are all averaging over three kills per game in 2007, something that hasn’t been done at Missouri State since 1993.
With 23 kills at Creighton Oct. 13, sophomore Sara Staubach became the first Bear since Amanda Omar in 1999 to get 20 or more kills in a three-game match.
Head coach Melissa Stokes is climbing up the all-time MVC coaching lists in a number of categories. Listed below is the 12th-year coach’s ranking in those categories. Lists are compiled based on statistics at Valley schools only:
Sixth in total victories with 269
Fourth in win percentage overall (.693) and second among active MVC coaches
Sixth in win percentage in MVC matches only (.724)
Third in MVC victories (155)
Missouri State is 12-1 this season when Sara Staubach has 12 or more kills.
Shayla Patrick leads all MVC freshmen with 1.14 blocks per game.
MSU is 20-2 this year and 44-3 the last two seasons when winning game two.
The MSU defense has been very difficult to ace this season, surrendering an average of 0.94 aces per game to opponents to lead the league.
Katelyn Panzau is fourth in school history with 2,658 assists and now holds the record for assists by a two-year player.
Missouri State’s win over No. 25 Middle Tennessee on Sept. 9 was the first over a ranked team since 2003.
Jamie Adams has reached at least 10 kills in 31 of her last 36 matches.
Missouri State has hit over .200 in 22 of 29 matches this season and at least .169 in all but four.
By winning MVC Player of the Week honors Sept. 10, Thomas became the first MSU player to win the award multiple times in the same season since Linette White in 2003.
Thomas has recorded at least six kills in each match, hitting .500 or better four times, .400 or better 11 times, .300 or better 16 times, and .200 or better 20 times.
HOMECOMING Missouri State has been dominant at home since 2000, compiling a home record of 101-15 for an .871 winning percentage at Hammons Student Center. The Bears have completed seven consecutive years with three or fewer losses in a home season and are 13-2 in 2007.
1,000th WIN Missouri State became the second volleyball program in NCAA history to reach 1,000 victories with a sweep on Indiana State on Nov. 17, 2006. Now with 1,027 all-time victories, the Bears trail only UCLA (1,054) on the all-time wins list.
NATIONAL PRAISE Missouri State is the reigning College Volleyball Update Overall Defensive Team of the Year in 2006. The Bears ranked second nationally last season by holding opponents to a .119 attack efficiency and 27th with 3.11 blocks per game.
TOUGH COMPETITION The Bears have seven matches lined up this season against teams that began the year receiving votes in the AVCA coaches poll, and nine versus teams making at least one appearance so far.
MSU plays Illinois State, Northern Iowa and Wichita State two times each, and Middle Tennessee, Michigan State and Sacramento State also appear on the schedule.
The Bears are 5-3 against that competition this season.
PANZAU CHASING A RECORD Senior setter Katelyn Panzau is in just her second season on the floor for the Bears, but is in line to finish as one of the top setters in school history. She recorded 1,502 assists in 2006, and a repeat of that will put her in third place on MSU’s all-time list. She now occupies fourth place on the career list with 2,658.
Just a pair of two-year players appear in the career top 10 in addition to Panzau, with Jessica Brester (2,027) and Lani Kim (1,838) occupying the ninth and 10th spots, respectively.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK Sara Thomas and Shayla Patrick brought home MVC awards in the first week of the season. Thomas was the league’s player of the week after averaging 3.79 kills, 4.07 digs, 1.07 blocks and hitting .357 on the way to becoming the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational MVP.
Patrick was the freshman of the week after leading MSU in hitting efficiency (.377) and blocking (1.29/game). She was named to the all-tournament team in her first collegiate action.
Thomas earned the award a second time on Sept. 10 after averaging 4.23 kills, 2.92 digs, 1.54 blocks and 1.46 assists per game in MSU’s 4-0 trip through Tennessee. She hit over .400 in three matches and .368 for the weekend, including a career-high 20 kills and a .405 attack efficiency in MSU’s 3-1 win at 25th-ranked Middle Tennessee.
Thomas added another award to her resume Oct. 8 by earning MVC Defensive Player of the Week honors. She averaged 4.57 digs and 2.71 blocks against WSU and SDSU, recording a triple-double against the Shockers.
Patrick brought home her second freshman honor Oct. 15 after leading the Bears with a .419 hitting figure and 1.29 blocks per game in wins at Drake and Creighton.
Thomas earned a fourth weekly honor Oct. 29 by winning Defensive Player of the Week a second time. She averaged 3.0 digs and 1.86 blocks in road victories against Evansville and Southern Illinois.
MVC TOURNAMENT The State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament returns to Springfield for the first time since 2003 on Thanksgiving weekend. The top six teams in the regular season standings will come to Hammons Student Center November 23 and 24 to vie for the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth.
PRESEASON POLL Coming off back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2005 and 2006, the Bears are picked to finish fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2007 by the league’s coaches. UNI is the preseason choice to repeat as league champions, while Wichita State was picked second and Creighton a close third.
VOLLEYBALL LUNCHEONS One date remains for Missouri State volleyball luncheons this fall. Luncheons will be on alternate Wednesdays at Ebbets Field, 1027 East Walnut, and feature Bears’ head coach Melissa Stokes. The final luncheon begins at noon on Nov. 21.
