**PARKING NOTICE FOR OCTOBER 4**
Due to Greenwood homecoming activities on Oct. 4, Lot 25 south of Hammons Student Center will be unavailable for the match against Illinois State.
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Volleyball fans are encouraged to use other adjacent lots (20, 35, 54, etc.) to attend the match, in addition to free parking options in BearPark South and BearPark North garages.
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Missouri State apologizes for any inconvenience caused by this unexpected change.
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Storylines for the Weekend
1) Missouri State (6-9, 0-3 Missouri Valley Conference) is home for the only time during a five-week stretch this weekend to take on Illinois State (6-9, 1-1) at 6 p.m. Friday and Bradley (7-7, 2-0) at 5 p.m. Saturday.
2) Missouri State has played Illinois State more than any other opponent and holds a 57-53 series lead. MSU is 27-22 versus the Redbirds in Springfield in a series that dates to 1974. MoState beat ISU twice in Springfield last season.
   The Bears are 57-15 against Bradley including a 30-6 record at home. The Braves are winners of seven of the last 11 in the series after losing 18 in a row from 2009-17.
3) Missouri State is in the top 10 nationally in five statistical categories. The Bears lead the country in total digs (1,090), rank second in total attacks (2,242), fourth digs per set (18.17), ninth in total assists (719) and 10th in total kills (772).
4) MSU has three senior starters from the same recruiting class -
Maddy Bushnell,
Kate Owen and
Morgan Sprague - who have already stamped their names on the record book.
   Bushnell set MSU's freshman record with a .343 hitting percentage in 2021, and currently ranks 12th in school history with a .280 attack efficiency for her career.
   Owen ranks 12th at MSU with 1,266 career digs, while her 40 aces in 2023 were the third-most by a Bear in the 25-point scoring era (since 2008).
   Sprague passed 3,000 career assists in the second match of the year and sits third in MSU history in that category with 3,439. She ranks 22nd with 1,061 digs as one of three Bears with 3,000 assists and 1,000 digs in a career. Sprague is third nationally in total assists in 2024.
5) A pair of freshman outside hitters have made an immediate impact for the Bears.  Â
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Aniya Joseph won MVC Freshman of the Week in each of the first two weeks of the year, and became the sixth player in league history to claim that award and Player of the Week in the same week on Sept. 9. She reached 100 kills in MSU's seventh match of the year, the quickest for a freshman in school history. Lily Johnson reached 100 in her eighth match. Joseph is also the only MSU freshman on record (since 1987) to debut with a 20-kill match.
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Rilynn Finley, meanwhile, is the only Bears freshman on record to begin a career with three consecutive double-figure kill matches and got to 100 in her ninth career match.
6) MSU has ranked in the top 32 nationally in total digs in three of the last four seasons, finishing 10th in 2020-21, 11th in 2023 and 32nd in 2022. So far in 2024, the Bears lead the nation with 1,090 total digs and fourth with an 18.17 per set average.
7) MoState has notched the top four ace averages since the 25-point scoring era began in the last four seasons, with at least 1.38 per set in each season under Coach McRoberts.
   The Bears have served double-digit ace totals 20 times in the last five seasons.
8) Head coach
Steven McRoberts is in his fifth season in Springfield and 28th overall as a head coach with 650 victories to his credit, good for 10th among active Division I coaches.
