The Missouri State volleyball team (15-7, 8-2 Missouri Valley Conference) hosts a pair of teams in the top half of the league standings this weekend at Hammons Student Center as Creighton (9-12, 6-5) comes to town Friday at 7 p.m. and Drake (18-7, 7-4) visits at 7 p.m. Saturday. CU has beaten MSU its last two trips to Springfield, while Drake is currently on a seven-match winning streak, its longest since 1996.

THE OPPONENTS — Creighton is 9-12 overall and 6-5 in The Valley, rebounding from a difficult non-conference schedule. Senior Jessica Houts leads the Bluejays with 2.73 kills per set, and leads the MVC and ranks 10th nationally with her 1.44 blocking average.
    Rookie setter Megan Bober  has twice won MVC Freshman of the Week honors this season, averaging 1.21 kills, 9.31 assists, 1.77 digs and 0.94 blocks per set on the year.
    As a team, Creighton averages 12.09 kills on .195 hitting, 14.72 digs and a Valley-best 3.04 blocks per set.
    Drake is 18-7 overall, 7-4 in the league and riding its longest winning streak in 13 years.
    The Bulldogs are led by junior outside hitter Angela Bys, who recently reached 1,000 career kills. She is one of five regulars to average at least 1.67 kills per set, as DU averages 12.75 kills per set on .211 hitting.
    Libero Alana Wittenburg averages 4.99 digs per set and the Bulldogs have scooped an identical number of digs as their opponents entering the weekend. Michelle Reidy takes part in 1.04 of Drake’s 2.37 blocks per set.

THE SERIES —  Missouri State is a combined 71-14 all-time against this week’s opponents. MSU had won 19 straight against Creighton before the Bluejays snapped the streak two years ago in Springfield, but still boasts a 26-6 all-time record versus CU. Creighton has won the last two meetings in Springfield.
    Missouri State has won 20 straight over Drake and has built a 45-8 lead in the all-time series with the Bulldogs.    

FIRST MEETINGS IN 2009 —  The Bears swept Drake by scores of 25-22, 25-13, 25-22 on Oct. 2.  Bethany Fuller had 12 kills, eight blocks and hit .429.
    Kelley Michnowicz set a career high with 16 kills and hit .536 in a 25-22, 25-20, 25-19 sweep of Creighton on Oct. 3. Fuller added another eight stuffs and Cara Hackmann had 22 digs.
   
AUDIO AND VIDEO COVERAGE
Coverage of this week’s matches will be as follows:
    • Video stream: Bears Live
    • Radio: The Growl, thegrowl.missouristate.edu
    • TV: None

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.”

COACH MELISSA STOKES — Missouri State head coach Melissa Stokes (San Diego State, 1991) is 308-142 (.684) in her 14th season at Missouri State. A native of El Cajon, Calif., Stokes has guided Missouri State to an overall record of 231-84 (.733) and 136-35 (.791) 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. The Bears made it four straight trips to the postseason with NCAA bids in 2007 and 2008.
     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 coached the 300th victory of her Missouri State career against Delaware, Sept. 11, 2009. Stokes ranked 36th among active Division I coaches in winning percentage entering 2009.

LAST WEEK — Missouri State suffered road setbacks at Wichita State and IPFW over the weekend. Friday at WSU, the Shockers swept by scores of 25-14, 25-15 and 25-20. Calli Norman led the Bears with 11 kills on .381 hitting, though MSU was held to its lowest hitting efficiency of the season at .109.
    Sunday, the Bears suffered a five set defeat at IPFW, losing by scores of 16-25, 25-20, 16-25, 25-18 and 14-16. Norman had a career-high 23 kills while hitting .370, and Shayla Patrick put up season-best totals of 10 kills, .429 hitting and six blocks.

QUICK HITS
•    Missouri State started 2-0 in the MVC for the seventh time in the last 10 seasons. Each of the previous four times the Bears have started 2-0, MSU has gone on to play in the NCAA Tournament.

•    MSU’s 8-0 MVC start matched the third best since the team joined the league prior to the 1992 season. The Bears began the league schedule 15-0 in 2003, 10-0 in 1992 and 8-0 in 2002.

•    Missouri State’s current three-match losing streak is only the seventh such streak since the beginning of the 1999 season, an 11-year stretch that has never seen the Bears lose more than four in a row.

•    Not including season-ending defeats, Missouri State is 52-23 (.693) following a loss since the beginning of the 2000 season.

•     Head coach Melissa Stokes is climbing up the all-time MVC coaching lists in a number of categories. Listed below is the 14th-year coach’s ranking in those categories. Lists are compiled based on statistics at Valley schools only:
    • Third in total victories with 308
    • Sixth in win percentage overall (.684) and third among active MVC coaches
    • Sixth in win percentage in MVC matches only (.717)
    • Second in MVC victories (175)

•    Stokes picked up her 300th career victory with MSU’s 3-1 win over Delaware on Sept. 11. She recently passed SIU’s Debbie Hunter (1975-88) for third all-time in wins at MVC schools.

•  With its win over No. 20 Wichita State Sept. 25, Missouri State has now defeated a ranked opponent in each of the last three seasons. The Bears beat the No. 9 Shockers in 2008, and topped 25th-ranked Middle Tennessee in 2007.
•    Missouri State is 12-6 the last three seasons in five-set matches.

•    Calli Norman has hit at least .267 in all but one match this year, topping .300 seventeen times, .400 eleven times, .500 four times and .600 once.

•    Norman has turned 50.3 percent of her attacks into kills this season and is hitting .385, comparing favorably with Linette White’s 2003 campaign when she hit .393 with a 52.9 percent kill rate, both school records.

•    Sara Staubach recently moved into the Missouri State career top 20 in kills and now stands 17th. She is also 33 kills shy of becoming the 16th player in school history with 1,000.

•    Cara Hackmann became the 19th player in school history with 1,000 career digs Sept. 18 against Illinois State and now sits in seventh-place on that list with 1,256.

•    Hackmann set an MVC record and 2009 NCAA single-match high with 46 digs Oct. 10 versus Evansville. She ranks fourth nationally in digs per set this week.

•    Missouri State has finished in the top four of the MVC standings 10 years in a row. Only UNI can match that streak among league schools.

•     MSU is 75-7 the last four seasons when winning set two.

•    Missouri State has won at least 20 matches in 10 consecutive seasons, a streak that is currently longer than all but seven others nationally.

•    Four Bears - Bethany Fuller, Kelley Michnowicz, Calli Norman and Shayla Patrick - have finished in the MVC’s top 10 in blocking at least one season of their career.

•     MSU has recorded more blocks than the opposition 13 times in 22 matches and is 11-2 when tallying more stuffs.

•    Missouri State has had 21 or fewer attack errors in 18 of its 22 matches, and less than 30 in all 22.

•    Missouri State’s crowd of 2,387 for the Sept. 25 Wichita State match checked in as the sixth largest in school history.

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 (1,097) and Nebraska (1,076) on the all-time wins list.

HACK-OF-ALL-TRADES — Junior Cara Hackmann has truly been a do-it-all player in her Missouri State career. She holds the school record for hitting percentage in a match, hitting .882 (15-0-17) last season while playing as a middle hitter.
    Hackmann moved to the outside for the first time in her career at the 2008 MVC Tournament and earned MVP honors at the event.
    Now in 2009, she is averaging 5.70 digs per set as MSU’s libero and owns the MVC record for digs in a match with 46 on Oct. 10 against Evansville.

RECORD WATCH — Several top 10 lists in the MSU record book are worth keeping an eye on this season in addition to those listed on page four of these notes. Calli Norman’s career hitting percentage of .316 ranks third in school history, while her 2009 figure of .385 would rank second.
   Cara Hackmann’s 5.70 digs per set average would be a school record if the season ended today.

SIX IS THE MAGIC NUMBER — The number six has been a milestone number the last 10 years in terms of winning streaks, as the Bears have strung together at least six consecutive wins a total of 15 times since the beginning of the 1999 season.
   The Bears won six in a row this year from Sept. 3-11, and went on an eight-match streak from Sept. 18-Oct. 16.

HOMECOMING — Missouri State has been dominant at home since 2000, compiling a home record of 121-20 for an .858 winning percentage at Hammons Student Center. The Bears have completed nine consecutive years with four or fewer losses in a home season and are 9-0 in 2009.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK — Calli Norman was Missouri State’s first weekly honor of the season on Sept. 8, earning MVC Player of the Week honors. Norman hit .404 and averaged 3.36 kills and a 1.29 blocks per set in four Missouri State wins. She hit at least .375 in three matches, including a .611 showing with 13 kills versus Memphis.
    Cara Hackmann was the Defensive Player of the Week Sept. 21 after totaling 46 digs (6.57/set) in MSU wins over Illinois State and Indiana State. She was also 48-for-48 in service reception chances.
    Hackmann repeated the next week after she averaged 6.00 digs per set, served three aces and was perfect in 20 serve reception chances in MSU’s win over Wichita State.
    Melissa Gmur was also honored Sept. 28 as the Player of the Week. She dished out 50 assists, had 17 digs and directed the offense to a .289 hitting percentage, nearly 200 points higher than WSU’s opponent average of .098 entering the match.
    Kelley Michnowicz was the Player of the Week Oct. 5 after averaging 4.00 kills, 1.83 digs, 1.67 blocks and hitting .413 in wins at Drake and Creighton.
    Bethany Fuller earned league defensive honors that same week with 2.67 blocks per set average. Fuller recorded eight blocks in each match and averaged 3.00 kills on .412 hitting offensively as well.
    Hackmann garnered player and defensive honors Oct. 12 after setting an MVC record with 46 digs against Evansville. In the matches against UE and Southern Illinois, she averaged 8.625 digs per set.

NATIONAL HONORS — Cara Hackmann earned the CVU.com National Player of the Week award Oct. 13 for her performances against Evansville and Southern Illinois the previous week. She averaged 8.625 digs per set in two matches and set an MVC record with 46 digs in the Bears’ five-set win over Evansville.

PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE — Cara Hackmann and Calli Norman occupy two of the eight spots on this year’s preseason all-MVC team. Hackmann was a second-team all-league choice in 2008 and made the all-freshman team in 2007, while Norman was a member of the league’s first and freshman teams a year ago.

VOLLEYBALL BLOG — Get an inside look at the Bears this season with Sara Staubach’s volley-blog. The senior outside hitter will update the blog periodically at blogs.missouristate.edu./bears.