The Missouri State volleyball team (20-11, 11-6 Missouri Valley Conference) closes the regular season Friday at 7 p.m. and celebrates Senior Night by hosting 11th-ranked and undefeated Wichita State (28-0, 17-0) at Hammons Student Center. The Bears then head to Wichita for the State Farm MVC Tournament beginning Thanksgiving Day and will in all likelihood earn the fourth seed and take on either Illinois State, Evansville or Southern Illinois in the quarterfinal round.

THE OPPONENT Wichita State is 28-0 overall, 17-0 in The Valley and ranked 11th this week as one of two undefeated teams remaining along with No. 1 Penn State. The Shockers boast the league’s top offense and defense in terms of hitting percentage, hitting .246 as a team and limiting opponents to .099.
    Individually, Emily Stockman ranks second in the MVC with 3.65 kills per set, Sarah McGee leads the league with a .329 hitting percentage and Kelly Broussard, the MVC’s all-time leader in digs, averages 5.49 per set this season to place second in the MVC.
    The Shockers bring a 37-match MVC road winning streak into Hammons Student Center and are the highest ranked team to play in HSC since No. 10 UNI in 2003.

THE SERIES   Missouri State holds a 39-15 all-time series edge over Wichita State, though WSU has won nine of the last 12 meetings. Of those 12 matches, seven have gone the full five sets.
    
COACH MELISSA STOKES Missouri State head coach Melissa Stokes (San Diego State, 1991) is 290-133 (.686) in her 13th season at Missouri State. A native of El Cajon, Calif., Stokes has guided Missouri State to an overall record of 216-75 (.742) and 127-33 (.794) 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, and made it three straight trips to the postseason in 2007.
     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-set 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 2008.

LIVE STATS   Live stats for most Missouri State volleyball matches will be available at www.missouristatebears.com. Go to the “Fan Central” link on the left side of the page and select “Live Stats.”

AUDIO AND VIDEO COVERAGE   Radio coverage of the match will be on KBFL 99.9 FM in Springfield. That broadcast can also be heard over the internet at www.radiospringfield.com.

LAST WEEK   Missouri State suffered losses in both matches of a conference weekend for the first time in eight years, falling 3-0 at UNI and 3-1 at Bradley. Freshman Calli Norman led the Bears offensively in both matches and hit .390 for the weekend.

QUICK HITS
    Missouri State ranks 38th in the nation in both blocks per set (2.48) and 42nd in digs (16.16), while Terri Del Conte is the team’s only individual ranking among the nation’s top 100, coming in at 75th with 4.39 digs per set.

    Head coach Melissa Stokes is climbing up the all-time MVC coaching lists in a number of categories. Listed below is the 13th-year coach’s ranking in those categories. Lists are compiled based on statistics at Valley schools only:
     Fourth in total victories with 290
     Fourth in win percentage overall (.686) and second among active MVC coaches
     Sixth in win percentage in MVC matches only (.717)
     Third in MVC victories (167)

    Stokes is now five victories away from tying SIU’s Debbie Hunter (1975-88) for third all-time in wins at MVC schools.

    Missouri State has played beyond three sets in 21 of 31 matches this season, and has a record of 8-2 in the three-setters.

    In losing at UNI and Bradley over the weekend, Missouri State lost both matches of an MVC weekend for the first time since a trip to those same two schools on November 3-4, 2000.

    The Bears have six players with at least three double-figure kill matches and five who have 10-plus kills on at least eight occasions.

    Sara Staubach has had three or fewer attack errors in 16 of MSU’s 31 matches, has five matches with no attack errors and has topped the .300 mark in hitting efficiency on 12 occasions.

    Kelley Michnowicz has made only 12 errors in her last 10 matches, accumulating 92 kills on 220 swings in the process to hit .364.

    Terri Del Conte went 165 consecutive serve reception chances without an error from Sept. 26 to Oct. 17. As a comparison, the league as a whole averages one error approximately every 17 chances for the season.

    Del Conte has led Missouri State in digs in all but six matches this season and has reached double figures in 21 in row.

    Del Conte’s 536 digs this season rank fourth all-time for a season at MSU.

    Del Conte is second on the career digs per set list, just .022 digs per set behind current record holder Adeana McAfee.

    After recording no double-doubles in her first 71 career matches, Addie Foley did it on back-to-back nights with 10 kills and 11 digs versus SIUE (Oct.14) and 18 kills and 10 digs against Bradley (Oct. 17).

    By losing to Evansville on Oct. 11, the Bears snapped a streak of 42 consecutive match victories against programs from the state of Indiana.

    Cara Hackmann (18), Calli Norman (18) and Sara Staubach (17) all had at least 17 kills at Drake on Sept. 27, the first time MSU has had three players with at least 17 kills since Linette White (22), Erin Murphy (19) and Katie Werges (18) did it against Illinois State on Oct. 25, 2003.

    MSU is 58-4 the last three seasons when winning set two.

    The Bears went on a six-match winning streak Sept. 6-13, their 13th different streak of six or more consecutive wins since the beginning of the 1999 season.

    Nikki Vandepopulier now ranks 11th on MSU’s career digs and has 1,130 digs as a Bear and needs three more to move into the top 10.

    The Bears used six freshmen against Arkansas-Pine Bluff Sept. 13.

    Cara Hackmann broke a long-standing school record by hitting .882 (15-0-17) against IPFW on Sept. 12, breaking Mindy Struckhoff’s 23-year-old mark of .867 that was set nearly three years before Hackmann was born and when Coach Stokes was a senior in high school.
    The Bears put up the second best attack percentage in school history as a team in the IPFW match as well, hitting .456 (48-7-90).

THAT’S A LOT OF VOLLEYBALL Missouri State has made a habit of playing long matches this season. Here are some numbers that show just how much volleyball the Bears are playing.
     21 matches that have lasted more than three sets, tied with 1989 team for most ever
     Eight five-set matches (the most since 1998)
     122 sets tops MSU’s 2007 total of 115. MSU played three more weekends last year.
     14 of 17 MVC matches have lasted more than three sets
     Bears are guaranteed at least 128 sets this season, the most since 1992 (131)

20 WINS AGAIN Missouri State has reached 20 wins for the 10th consecutive season. Entering 2008, only nine schools in the country had longer active streaks.

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. The Bears trail only UCLA (1,078) and Nebraska (1,054) on the all-time wins list.
HOMECOMING Missouri State has been dominant at home since 2000, compiling a home record of 112-19 for an .855 winning percentage at Hammons Student Center. The Bears have completed eight consecutive years with three or fewer losses in a home season and are 11-3 in 2008.
    
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK   Cara Hackmann was MSU’s first MVC Player of the Week in 2008, earning the award Sept. 15. She averaged 3.82 kills on .500 hitting, 3.18 digs and 1.36 blocks per set over four matches and set the school record for hitting percentage in a match at .882  (15-0-17) against IPFW on Sept. 12.
    The Bears added two more awards on Oct. 6. Addie Foley was honored as POW after averaging 3.50 kills on .304 hitting, 1.12 digs and 0.62 blocks in wins against Indiana State and Illinois State.
    Terri Del Conte earned Defensive Player of the Week recognition the same week. The senior averaged 5.75 digs per set, including a career-high 27 versus the Sycamores, while posting a perfect service reception percentage in 47 tries.
    Two more Bears were honored Oct. 20. Freshman Calli Norman won Player of the Week honors after hitting .441 with 2.91 kills and 1.18 blocks per set in three wins.
    Fellow rookie Kelley Michnowicz was the league’s Freshman of the Week. She hit .417 (27-2-60) and averaged 2.45 kills, 1.00 digs and 0.73 blocks per set for the week.
    Michnowicz repeated that honor Oct. 27 after averaging 2.88 kills on .417 hitting and 1.00 digs for the Bears against Drake and Creighton.
    Norman added to her hardware collection Nov. 10 with a Freshman of the Week award. She averaged 3.15 kills and 1.31 blocks and hit .286 for the week.

RADIO BROADCASTS MSU volleyball broadcasts will air on several stations this season, including KBFL 99.9 FM and 1060 AM in Springfield, over the internet at www.radiospringfield.com and on The Growl at thegrowl.missouristate.edu.
    A complete listing of this year’s radio broadcasts can be found on page 4.

VOLLEYBALL LUNCHEONS One date remains for Missouri State volleyball luncheons this fall. Luncheons will be on alternate Wednesdays at Springfield Brewing Company, 301 South Market, and feature Bears’ head coach Melissa Stokes. Luncheons begin at noon and remaining dates are Nov. 19.

RULE CHANGES FOR 2008   A few rule changes will be in effect this season, most notably that the term “game” will now be changed to “set”, and that sets will be played to 25 points rather than 30. Additionally, with the new shorter sets, the maximum number of substitutions allowed will now be 12 per set.