Storylines for the Opening Weekend
1) Missouri State begins the 2023 campaign with a trip to the Lone Star State to face Texas A&M Commerce, Texas San Antonio and Texas Southern at the UTSA Invitational. The Bears are 31-20 all-time in season openers and 2-1 under head coach
Steven McRoberts.
2) MoState has notched the top three ace averages since the 25-point scoring era began in the last three seasons, and ranked 39th nationally in 2022 with 195 total aces. The 2023 MSU roster has served a combined 264 aces in the Maroon and White.
3) The Bears have played beyond three sets in 22 of their last 32 matches, with 11 of those going the distance. MSU averaged more than four sets per match for just the second time in school history last season.
4) Fifth-year senior
Azyah Green has recorded at least 100 blocks in each of her first four seasons and is the first player since the 1980s to lead the Bears in that category in four consecutive years. Green already has 464 total blocks as a Bear – eighth on the school's career list – and could end her time at MSU as one of five players with at least 500 stuffs. Her career 1.05 blocking average ranks 11th in school history, and her totals both overall and per set are the highest for any player who played exclusively in the 25-point scoring era (since 2008).
5) Head coach
Steven McRoberts enters his fourth season and Springfield and 27th overall as a head coach with 628 victories to his credit, good for 12th among active Division I coaches.
6) The Bears will play half of their scheduled 30 matches at Hammons Student Center this season and host the MVC Tournament for the first time since 2018. Missouri State has hosted the conference meet 10 times previously, three as the Gateway Tournament and seven under the MVC heading.
7) MoState returns in excess of 76 percent of its production in every statistical category from 2022, with 10 players on the roster who played in at least half the team's sets a year ago.
8) Senior
Teagan Polcovich (889) and junior
Kate Owen (730) are both nearing 1,000 career digs for the Bears. Entering 2023, a total of 25 players in school history have reached that milestone.
Series Histories
Missouri State faces a trio of first-time opponents this weekend. The Bears last played in the state of Texas in 2018, going 2-1 at Texas A&M's tournament, and had not been in the Lone Star State prior to that since 2003.
