After opening the season with seven of the first 11 matches away from Springfield, the Missouri State volleyball team (7-4) begins the Missouri Valley Conference season this weekend with Illinois State (5-6) on Friday and Indiana State (4-7) on Saturday at Hammons Student Center. First serve for both matches is 7 p.m.

THE OPPONENTS —  Illinois State is 5-6 overall and snapped a three-match losing streak Tuesday with a sweep of SIU Edwardsville. The Redbirds own victories over SIUE, Wake Forest, Loyola-Chicago, Texas-Arlington and Gardner Webb this season. Junior outside hitter Mallory Leggett leads ISU with 3.32 kills and 0.50 aces per set while hitting .180. The Redbirds hit .180 as a team and average 11.97 kills, 1.47 aces, 16.26 digs and 1.74 blocks per set.
    Indiana State is 4-7 overall with wins against SIU Edwardsville, Eastern Illinois, Chicago State and Loyola-Chicago. Senior Jodilynne Stoker leads ISU with 2.35 kills per set, while Stacy Qualizza tops ISU with a .291 attack efficiency to go with 2.11 kills per set. As a team, the Sycamores average 10.54 kills, 1.11 aces, 12.78 digs and 1.54 blocks per set and hit .182

THE SERIES —  Missouri State has squared off with Illinois State more than any other school, and holds a 40-38 series lead in 78 all-time meetings. Missouri State has been in control of the series lately, winning 16 of the last 19 overall.
    Missouri State leads the all-time series with Indiana State by a 45-1 margin, with the Bears’ lone loss occurring in five sets in 1994. Since then, the Bears have reeled off 31 straight wins against the Sycamores.
    The MSU win streak was in serious jeopardy in Springfield last season as Indiana State took a 2-0 set lead and held match point at 24-20 in the third before the Bears rallied to win in five.

COACH MELISSA STOKES — Missouri State head coach Melissa Stokes (San Diego State, 1991) is 300-139 (.683) in her 14th season at Missouri State. A native of El Cajon, Calif., Stokes has guided Missouri State to an overall record of 223-81 (.734) and 127-34 (.789) 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.

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
Coverage of this week’s matches will be as follows:
    • Video stream: None
    • Radio: The Growl; thegrowl.missouristate.edu
    • TV: None

LAST WEEK — The Bears went 2-2 at the Hampton Inn Invitational in Athens, Ohio, defeating Eastern Kentucky and Delaware before falling to Indiana and Ohio.
    On Friday, the Bears swept EKU and then beat Delaware 3-1 in the afternoon match to give Coach Stokes her 300th career win.
    Saturday, Missouri State held match points in the fourth and fifth sets, but came up short in a 17-15 loss to IU in the fifth. Cara Hackmann had a career-high 31 digs and Calli Norman hit .520. Norman hit above .350 in all four matches.
    On Sunday, the Bears tied Ohio through two sets but ran out of gas in a 3-1 defeat.

QUICK HITS
•     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 300
    • Sixth in win percentage overall (.683) and third among active MVC coaches
    • Seventh in win percentage in MVC matches only (.714)
    • Second in MVC victories (167)

•    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.

•    Calli Norman has hit at least .269 in all but one match this year, topping .300 eight times, .400 six times, .500 two times and .600 once.

•    Cara Hackmann is 10 digs away from becoming the 19th 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 68-6 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 seven times in 11 matches and is 6-1 when tallying more stuffs.

•    Missouri State has had 21 or fewer attack errors in nine of its 11 matches, and less than 30 in all 11.

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 (1,090) and Nebraska (1,068) 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 4.93 digs per set as MSU’s libero.

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 .297 ranks fifth in school history, though the sophomore needs 37 sets played to qualify, while her 2009 figure of .387 would rank second.
    Hackmann’s 4.93 digs per set average would rank fourth 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 14 times since the beginning of the 1999 season.
   The Bears won six in a row this year from Sept. 3-11.

HOMECOMING — Missouri State has been dominant at home since 2000, compiling a home record of 116-20 for an .853 winning percentage at Hammons Student Center. The Bears have completed nine consecutive years with four or fewer losses in a home season.

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.

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.

PRESEASON POLL — Coming off four straight NCAA Tournament appearances, the Bears are picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2009 by the league’s coaches. Wichita State is the preseason choice to repeat as league champions.

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.