Printable Schedule

SPRINGFIELD -- The 2015 Missouri State volleyball schedule has been completed and includes a total of 31 matches, 13 of those at Hammons Student Center in Springfield. The Bears will play seven matches against six teams that made the 2014 NCAA Tournament.

The season begins August 28-29 in Milwaukee, Wis., where the Bears will play Furman, Western Michigan, and Milwaukee. WMU qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season, while Furman and Milwaukee each posted top-100 RPIs.

The annual Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational takes place Sept. 4-5 at Hammons Student Center, with Oral Roberts, Marquette, and Miami visiting Springfield. The latter two schools each won at least 22 matches and played in the NCAA Tournament in 2014.

The Bears visit Bowling Green, Ky., a week later to face Western Kentucky and Northwestern on Sept. 11-12, and have single-match dates against Arkansas State at home (Sept. 9) and Middle Tennessee on the road (Sept. 13) that same week.

MSU concludes non-conference play at the Jayhawk Classic, Sept. 18-19 in Lawrence, Kan., with matches against UMKC, South Dakota State and Kansas. Two of those three schools completed 2014 with a winning record, giving the Bears a total of 11 non-league opponents that won at least half of their matches last season, with nine top-100 clubs of 13 opponents.

Missouri Valley Conference play begins Sept. 25 against Illinois State, and the Bears will play a full 18-match home-and-home league schedule that ends Nov. 21 at home against Southern Illinois. The MVC Volleyball Championship takes place Nov. 26-28, at Hammons Student Center in Springfield.

In total, MSU's 2015 opponents went 382-303 (.558) a season ago, with 12 of the 22 teams boasting an RPI of 100 or better. The Bears will play 15 total matches against those top-100 teams and 21 matches against schools with a winning record last season.

The 2015 season will be the 20th under head coach Melissa Stokes. Stokes has guided the Bears to a 414-202 mark since taking over in 1996, and the team has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in seven of the last 12 seasons while reaching the 20-win mark 15 times in the last 16 years.