The Missouri State volleyball team (17-7, 10-2 Missouri Valley Conference) heads to Evansville (13-12, 6-7) and Southern Illinois (17-7, 6-7) this weekend for a pair of key late-season MVC matches. The Bears take on the Aces at 7 p.m. Friday and head to Carbondale for a 7 p.m. Saturday contest. Missouri State took the win in both matches in Springfield the first time through the league schedule.
THE OPPONENTS — Evansville is 13-12 overall and 6-7 in league play. The Purple Aces defeated Indiana State in their last outing and have not won or lost more than two consecutive matches all season.
Three Aces average at least 2.50 kills per set, led by Ginta Gabruseva’s 3.21 average. As a team UE hits .180 and averages 12.80 kills, 17.21 digs and 1.76 blocks per set.
Southern Illinois is 17-7 overall, 6-7 in the MVC and was the league’s last unbeaten team with an 11-0 start. The Salukis rank fourth in the MVC with a .230 team hitting percentage. Jennifer Berwanger averages 3.61 kills and 3.71 digs per set, and the Salukis average 13.28 kills, 15.64 digs and 2.46 blocks per set as a team.
THE SERIES — Missouri State has suffered just two losses in 32 all-time meetings with Evansville. The Bears had won 18 straight against the Aces until a five-set loss at UE last season.
MSU leads Southern Illinois 41-14 in the all-time series and has won the last 10 matches.
FIRST MEETINGS IN 2009 — The Bears defeated Evansville in five sets Oct. 10 by scores of 25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 20-25 and 15-11. Cara Hackmann set an MVC record with 46 digs and Calli Norman paced five Bears with double figure kill totals with 18.
Oct. 9 against SIU, the Bears swept by scores of 25-23, 25-19 and 25-13 behind .409 hitting and 11 kills from Addie Foley and 12 kills by Megan Bess.
AUDIO AND VIDEO COVERAGE
Coverage of this week’s matches will be as follows:
• Video stream: UE stream at www.gopurpleaces.com; SIU at www.siusalukis.com
• Radio: None
• 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 310-142 (.686) in her 14th season at Missouri State. A native of El Cajon, Calif., Stokes has guided Missouri State to an overall record of 233-84 (.735) and 138-35 (.798) 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 kept pace with the other league leaders by defeating Creighton and Drake at home. Friday versus Creighton, Sara Staubach had 17 kills as the Bears swept by scores of 25-22, 25-21 and 26-24.
Saturday against Drake, Calli Norman had 25 kills on .575 hitting and Cara Hackmann scooped 37 digs as MSU won in four sets, 25-19, 25-27, 25-21, 25-16.
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 is 10-2 through 12 matches for the sixth time since joining the MVC in volleyball in 1992. MSU has finished at least second each of the previous five occasions.
• Not including season-ending defeats, Missouri State is 53-23 (.697) 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 310
• Fifth in win percentage overall (.686) and third among active MVC coaches
• Sixth in win percentage in MVC matches only (.720)
• Second in MVC victories (177)
• 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 two matches this year, topping .300 eighteen times, .400 twelve times, .500 five times and .600 once.
• Norman’s total of 25 kills Oct. 31 against Drake was the highest for a Bear since 2004, and the most in a four-set match since 1999.
• Norman has turned 50.7 percent of her attacks into kills this season and is hitting .387, 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 16th. She is also four kills shy of becoming the 16th player in school history with 1,000.
• 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 76-7 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 24 matches and is 11-2 when tallying more stuffs.
• Missouri State has had 21 or fewer attack errors in 19 of its 24 matches, and less than 30 in all 24.
• Missouri State’s crowd of 2,387 for the Sept. 25 Wichita State match checked in as the sixth largest in school history.
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.
She is playing as MSU’s libero this year and boasts a long list of accomplishments, including:
• MVC record 46 digs on Oct. 10 versus Evansville, also an NCAA high in 2009
• MSU record for digs in a four set match with 37 on Oct. 31 against Drake
• MSU career leader with 3.87 digs per set
• MSU season leader with 5.94 digs per set, 0.80 above current leader
• Fourth in career digs (1,318), fifth in season digs (535)
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 (1,099) and Nebraska (1,077) on the all-time wins list.
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 .321 ranks third in school history, while her 2009 figure of .387 would rank second.
Kelley Michnowicz needs five sets played to qualify for career lists, at which point her .272 hitting percentage will rank eighth.
Cara Hackmann’s 5.94 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 123-20 for an .860 winning percentage at Hammons Student Center.
The Bears are 11-0 in 2009 with two home matches left, extending a streak of four or fewer losses in a home season to 10 years.
Missouri State’s last unbeaten home season was in 1988, and team’s current 12-match home winning streak is three shy of the school record.
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.
Hackmann won Defensive POW a fourth time on Nov. 2 after averaging 8.86 digs per set in wins versus Creighton and Drake. Her 37 digs against Drake were the third most in school history.
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.
