Sept. 19, 2012

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Opponents:
Southern Illinois - Friday, Sept. 21, 7 p.m.
Evansville - Saturday, Sept. 22, 6 p.m.
Site: Hammons Student Center
Location: Springfield, Mo.
Live Stats: --
Live Video: Bears All-Access

Missouri State (6-7, 1-1 Missouri Valley Conference) hosts its first home MVC matches of the season this weekend when Southern Illinois and Evansville pay a visit to Hammons Student Center. The Bears play arguably the league's hottest team in SIU (11-1, 2-0) at 7 p.m. Friday, and take on the always-dangerous Purple Aces (5-9, 0-2) at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The Opponents
Southern Illinois is 11-1 overall and 2-0 in MVC play. The Salukis have won 11 straight since a season-opening loss to Eastern Michigan, and lead the MVC in both offensive (.272) and defensive (.133) hitting percentage under first-year head coach Justin Ingram.
Evansville is 5-9 and 1-1 in league play and makes a stop at Wichita State before Saturday's match. The Purple Aces were swept at home by Illinois State to open conference play before defeating Indiana State in five sets.

The Series
The Bears lead SIU 45-15 in the all-time series, winning the last four and 14 of the last 15 meetings.
Missouri State leads Evansville by a 35-2 margin, losing just one time since 1999.

Last Week
The Bears opened Valley play at Creighton and Drake, splitting the two matches.
CU took the first two sets on the Sept. 14, but the Bears fought back behind 23 Christine McCartney kills before losing 15-8 in the fifth set.
The next night, Amber Doolittle had 11 kills on .556 hitting in a sweep of Drake.