The Missouri State volleyball team (11-3, 3-1 Missouri Valley Conference) plays its final non-conference match of the regular season Tuesday at SIU Edwardsville (8-6) before returning to Hammons Student Center Saturday at 7 p.m. for a league showdown with Wichita State (10-3, 3-1).

The Opponents
SIU Edwardsville is 8-6 and had a five-match winning streak snapped Saturday at Murray State. SIUE is 0-3 against MVC teams this year, losing to Indiana State, Illinois State and Evansville. The Cougars are led offensively by Sydney Winslow, who hits .321 and averages 3.14 kills per set. As a team, SIUE hits .200 with averages of 12.64 kills, 14.78 digs, 1.54 aces and 1.23 blocks per set.
    Wichita State is 10-3 overall and 3-1 in Valley play with identical results to the Bears in league matches. Junior transfer Camri Zwiesler leads the offense with a .276 hitting percentage and 3.89 kills per set. The Shockers also feature 2009 first-team all-MVC performers in setter Mary Elizabeth Hooper and middle blocker Sarah McGee. As a team, the Shockers hit .236 and average 13.58 kills, 16.47 digs, 1.22 aces and 2.79 blocks per set.

The Series
Missouri State is 1-0 against SIUE with a 3-0 win coming in Springfield in 2008.
    Missouri State holds a 41-18 all-time series edge over Wichita State, though WSU has won 12 of the last 17 meetings. Of those 17 matches, 10 have gone the full five sets.

Last Week
Missouri State beat Indiana State and Illinois State at home to improve to 3-1 in league play. Friday, Christine McCartney had 17 kills to lead the Bears in a 25-17, 25-18, 25-27, 25-16 win over Indiana State. Calli Norman, Kelley Michnowicz and Shayla Patrick combined for 28 kills and one error to hit .491.
    The Bears swept Illinois State 25-22, 25-22, 25-19 the next night behind another 13 McCartney kills. Norman had 10 kills and Michnowicz hit .471 as the MSU offense pounded 50 kills in just three sets.

Coach Melissa Stokes
Missouri State head coach Melissa Stokes (San Diego State, 1991) is 325-148 (.687) in her 15th season at Missouri State. A native of El Cajon, Calif., Stokes has guided Missouri State to an overall record of 248-90 (.734) and 144-39 (.787) 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. 27 AVCA Coaches Poll, the 36th highest total.

•     Missouri State is 3-3 this season against members of the 2009 NCAA Tournament field and 5-3 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.

•     Missouri State’s 3-1 league start marks the 20th time in 28 seasons in the Gateway/MVC that the Bears have won at least three of their first four matches. Of the previous 19 times, Missouri State has gone on to finish second or better in the final standings on 16 occasions.

•     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 325
    • Second in MVC victories (184)
    • Fifth in win percentage overall (.687) and third among active MVC coaches
    • Seventh in win percentage in MVC matches only (.719)

•    Stokes picked up her 300th career victory with MSU’s 3-1 win over Delaware on Sept. 11, 2009, and is 12 league wins away from tying the MVC record for conference victories at 196 with UNI’s Iradge Ahrabi-Fard.

•     Missouri State’s defense has allowed only two opponents to hit better than .226 in 14 matches and has held nine opponents to a .183 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.

•     The Bears have yet to allow a kill-dig double-double to an opponent this season.

•     Calli Norman currently ranks third in Missouri State history in career hitting percentage at .317 and has turned 46.4 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 .317 hitting and 49.2 percent kills also challenge White’s school record 2003 season of .393 hitting and 52.9 percent.

•    Freshman Christine McCartney’s 2.94 kills per set average is the highest for any MSU rookie since Jessica Hovorka averaged 3.26 in 1995.

•    Missouri State is 15-8 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 88-9 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 currently holds six school records, including hitting percentage in a match (.882, 15-0-17) in a 2008 contest, digs in a match (46, Oct. 10, 2009 vs. Evansville), total digs and dig average in a season (671 and 5.74 in 2009), career digs (1,648) and career double-figure dig matches (84).
    Hackmann is also MSU’s career leader in dig average at 3.91 per set.

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 131-23 for an .851 winning percentage at Hammons Student Center.
    The Bears are 7-2 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.