The Missouri State volleyball team (8-2) begins Missouri Valley Conference play this weekend with a trip to UNI and Bradley. The Bears visit No. 17 UNI (8-2) Friday at 7 p.m. in a match-up of the preseason favorites in the league. The match will be televised live on Mediacom 22 in the Springfield area. MSU concludes the trip at 7 p.m. Saturday at 4-6 Bradley.
    
The Opponents
UNI is 8-2 overall and ranked 17th in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll. The Panthers are picked to repeat as conference champions and feature reigning MVC Player of the Year Bre Payton, who averages 2.23 kills and 2.44 digs from the setter position. As a team, UNI hits .210 with 13.82 kills, 16.62 digs, 0.80 aces and 2.42 blocks per set.
    Bradley is 4-6 and has lost three straight matches. The Braves are led offensively by Amy Angelos with 2.46 kills per set, and Megan Schmidt, who hits .280. As a team, BU hits .194 with per set averages of 11.32 kills, 15.62 digs, 1.05 aces and 1.55 blocks.
    
The Series
The all-time series with UNI is 39-19 in favor of the Panthers, but the Bears have taken six of the last 14 meetings since losing 15-of-17 from 1998-2004.
    Missouri State holds a 39-8 series edge with Bradley and had a 16-match winning streak against Braves snapped in 2008 in Peoria.

Last Week
Missouri State went 2-1 in the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational, beating Saint Louis and Utah and losing to Oklahoma in the championship match.
    Friday against SLU, the Bears trailed for the majority off the match but still won in four sets, 23-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23. Calli Norman led MSU with 13 kills.
    In Saturday’s first match, Missouri State cruised to 25-18 wins in the first two set before Utah won the next two 25-21 and 25-10. MSU used a 7-0 run in the fifth to win 15-9. Christine McCartney had a double-double with 17 kills and 15 digs.
    Saturday evening, MSU took the first set from Oklahoma by a 25-19 score but lost in four sets in frustrating fashion. The Bears led 23-21 in the second, 27-26 in the third and 26-25 in the fourth, with OU using runs of 4-0, 3-0 and 3-0, respectively, to win each set. McCartney led all players with 16 kills.

Coach Melissa Stokes
Missouri State head coach Melissa Stokes (San Diego State, 1991) is 322-147 (.687) in her 15th season at Missouri State. A native of El Cajon, Calif., Stokes has guided Missouri State to an overall record of 245-89 (.734) and 141-38 (.788) 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 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 win percentage entering 2010.
    
Quick Hits
•    Missouri State received three votes in the Sept. 13 AVCA Coaches Top 25, placing the Bears 39th in the poll.
    
•     Missouri State is 3-2 this season against members of the 2009 NCAA Tournament field and 5-2 against teams that have made the tournament at least once in the last two seasons.
    
•     MSU’s 6-0 start this year was the best for a Bears’ volleyball squad in 33 years. Missouri State began the 1977 season 8-0.
    
•     Head coach Melissa Stokes is climbing up the all-time MVC coaching lists in a number of categories. Listed below is the 15th-year coach’s ranking in those categories. Lists are compiled based on statistics at Valley schools only:
    • Third in total victories with 322
    • Second in MVC victories (181)
    • Fifth in win percentage overall (.687) and third among active MVC coaches
    • Seventh in win percentage in MVC matches only (.718)
    
•    Stokes picked up her 300th career victory with MSU’s 3-1 win over Delaware on Sept. 11, 2009, and is 15 league wins away from tying the MVC record for conference victories at 196 with UNI’s Iradge Ahrabi-Fard.

•     Cara Hackmann has 1,581 career digs and will own the school record outright with three more.
    
•     Missouri State’s defense has allowed only one opponent to hit better than .222 in 10 matches and has held five opponents to a .129 or lower attack efficiency.
    
•      Missouri State has defeated a ranked opponent in each of the last three seasons. The Bears beat No. 20 Wichita State in 2009, the ninth-ranked Shockers in 2008, and No. 25 Middle Tennessee in 2007.
    
•     Calli Norman currently ranks third in Missouri State history in career hitting percentage at .314 and has turned 46.3 percent of her career attacks into kills. The two players in front of her on that list are Linette White (.352/48.3) and Sabrina Apker (.338/47.4).
    Norman’s 2010 totals of .292 hitting and 49.3 percent kills also challenge White’s school record 2003 season of .393 hitting and 52.9 percent.
    
•    Missouri State is 14-8 in five-set matches since the beginning of the 2007 season.
    
•    Missouri State has finished in the top four of the MVC standings 11 years in a row. Only UNI can match that streak among league schools.
    
•     MSU is 85-9 the last five seasons when winning set two.
    
•    Missouri State has won at least 20 matches in 11 consecutive seasons, a streak that is currently longer than all but six others nationally.
    
Hack-of-All-Trades
Senior Cara Hackmann has truly been a do-it-all player in her Missouri State career. She holds the school records for hitting percentage in a match (.882, 15-0-17) in a 2008 contest, digs in a match (46, Oct. 10, 2009 vs. Evansville) and total digs and dig average in a season (671 and 5.74 in 2009).
    Hackmann is currently MSU’s career leader in dig average at 3.89 per set, is tied for the school record with 80 double-figure dig matches, and is two digs away from matching the MSU career mark.
    
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 16 times since the beginning of the 1999 season.
    Missouri State started 6-0 in 2010 to knock out the streak early this season.
    
Homecoming
Missouri State has been dominant at home since 2000, compiling a home record of 129-23 for an .849 winning percentage at Hammons Student Center.
    The Bears are 5-2 in 2010 and have completed 10 consecutive seasons with four or fewer home losses.
    
Bears on TV
Missouri State will have three televised matches on Mediacom cable channel 22 in the Springfield area this season. TV games for the Bears will be Sept. 17 at UNI, Nov. 5 vs. Drake and Nov. 20 vs. UNI. All three will start at 7 p.m.

Preseason Poll
Following a 2009 season when the Missouri State volleyball team finished 21-10 and 14-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference, the Bears have been picked to finish second in the 2010 MVC race by the league’s. UNI is the unanimous choice to repeat as league champions.
    
Preseason All-Conference
Cara Hackmann and Calli Norman occupy two of the six spots on this year’s preseason all-MVC team. Both were first-team all-league pick last season, and Norman was a first-teamer in 2008 as well.

Bears Live
Bears Live, Missouri State’s premium broadband video channel that is your online destination for exclusive live and on-demand Missouri State streaming video and audio brought straight to your computer, will broadcast a minimum of four home matches this season on a subscription basis at www.MissouriStateBears.com
    The 2010 streaming schedule currently includes North Carolina (Sept. 4, 7:30 p.m.), Oklahoma (Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m.), Illinois State (Sept. 25, 7 p.m.) and Wichita State (Oct. 2, 7 p.m.).

Radio Broadcasts
Seven over-the-air volleyball broadcasts can be heard on KBFL 1060 AM in Springfield this season, while the remainder of MSU’s home contests will be internet-only broadcasts at TheGrowl.MissouriState.edu.
    The KBFL schedule includes all Saturday evening home matches (Sept. 4, Sept. 11, Sept. 25, Oct. 2, Oct. 16, Nov. 6 and Nov. 20), with match times at 7 p.m. with the exception of Sept. 4 and 11, which start at 7:30 p.m.
    Those matches can also be heard online at www.RadioSpringfield.com.