The Missouri State volleyball team closed out the regular season with a 25-6 overall record and a 14-4 mark in Missouri Valley Conference action to finish in a three-way tie for second in the league standings. The Bears now move into the postseason, where they take a fourth seed into the State Farm MVC Tournament starting Friday at Hammons Student Center in Springfield. Missouri State faces No. 5 Illinois State at 10:00 a.m. Friday and the winner advances to play No. 1 Wichita State at 5:00 that evening. MSU won both matches with Illinois State this year, combining to win six games to one, but was swept by Wichita State. The other half of the bracket includes No. 2 Northern Iowa, No. 3 Creighton and No. 6 Southern Illinois.
Missouri State has played in five of the last six MVC Championship matches and won the title in 2005. MSU advanced to the finals as a three seed in 2004 and 2006, although the championship has never been won by a team not seeded first or second in the 25 years the MVC has sponsored volleyball.
The championship match will be played at 4:00 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 24, and will be televised live on Metro Sports and Fox College Sports and on a tape-delay basis on FSN Midwest, FSN Indiana and Comcast SportsNet.
The Valley Tournament home page can be accessed by visiting www.mvc.org. Live stats will be available at www.missouristatebears.com and fans can listen to MSU’s match with Illinois State at http://thegrowl.missouristate.edu and the remaining Bears’ matches on 101.3 FM in Springfield and on the web at www.radiospringfield.com.
THE OPPONENT Illinois State is 19-10 overall and 11-7 in the league and carries a four-match and 12-game win streak into the weekend. A solid defensive team, the Redbirds average 20.82 digs per game to lead the league, and five different players average at least 3.39. M.C. Richmond leads the Redbirds with 3.54 kills per game, while Kari Staehlin and Peggy Riessen average 3.47 and 3.17, respectively.
THE SERIES Missouri State has squared off with Illinois State more than any other school, and two MSU victories this season have tied the all-time series 37-37 in 74 meetings. Missouri State has been in control of the series lately, winning 13 of the last 15 overall. A complete listing of the series history with all schools in the MVC Tournament can be found at the bottom of this page.
COACH MELISSA STOKES Missouri State head coach Melissa Stokes (San Diego State, 1991) is 270-120 (.692) in her 12th season at Missouri State. A native of El Cajon, Calif., Stokes has guided Missouri State to an overall record of 199-63 (.760) and 116-27 (.811) 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 swept Bradley Friday and entered Saturday’s match at UNI alone in second place in the league, but in need of a win to secure the No. 2 seed and avoid a three-way tie for second.
The Panthers made only 12 errors in three games and went on a critical 12-0 in the third game to secure a sweep of the Bears. MSU matched UNI’s 48 kills but were doomed by 23 attack errors and nine more at the service line.
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY Missouri State has appeared in four straight MVC Tournament finals and five of the last six. MSU is 23-18 in the tournament with titles coming in 1993 and 2005.
QUICK HITS
The Bears are 5-4 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 156-60 (.722) in league matches. She ended the regular season one more MVC win shy of tying former Illinois State coach Julie Morgan for second all-time.
Missouri State has held all but two opponents 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 75 in the following categories through Nov. 18. There are 325 Division teams in the rankings:
20th in digs per game (19.16)
23rd in winning percentage (.806)
40th in blocks per game (2.91)
42nd in kills per game (16.21)
49th in assists per game (14.72)
74th in hitting percentage (.232)
Katelyn Panzau ranks 70th in the NCAA with 12.15 assists per game.
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 1,103.
Thomas has one of 12 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 (3.22), three digs (3.51) and one block (1.22) 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 270
Fourth in win percentage overall (.692) and second among active MVC coaches
Sixth in win percentage in MVC matches only (.722)
Third in MVC victories (156)
Shayla Patrick leads all MVC freshmen with 1.14 blocks per game.
MSU is 21-2 this year and 45-3 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 2,741 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 33 of her last 38 matches.
Missouri State has hit over .200 in 23 of 31 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 21 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.
20 WINS AGAIN By virtue of its victory over Illinois State on Oct. 19, Missouri State reached the 20-win mark for the ninth consecutive season. Such a streak has not happened since 1972-84. In fact, Missouri State has finished with at least 24 wins six times in 12 seasons under Melissa Stokes.
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 1,028 all-time victories, the Bears trail only UCLA (1,055) on the all-time wins list.
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 2,741.
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.
SCHOLAR-ATHLETES Three Bears have been honored for their academic and athletic performance with a spot on the MVC Scholar-Athlete team.
Jamie Adams is the Bears’ lone first-team selection, and has a 3.58 cumulative grade point average in entertainment management. She was an honorable mention choice in 2006.
Nikki Vandepopulier and Sara Staubach appear as honorable mention selections. Vandepopulier has a 3.71 GPA in public relations, while Staubach has a 3.57 GPA through her first two semesters and is undecided on an academic major.
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.
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.
