Volleyball Home This Weekend for UNI and Drake

Missouri State vs. UNI/Drake
UNI	Nov. 15, 6 p.m. Live Stats \| ESPN+
Drake	Nov. 16, 5:30 p.m. Live Stats \| ESPN+ Senior Night Alumni Night
Location	Springfield, Mo.
Site	Hammons Student Center
Missouri State	Match Notes Volleyball Home Page
UNI	Volleyball Home Page
Drake	Volleyball Home Page
Bag Policy	Bag Policy
Accessibility	Missouri State University is committed to providing an accessible and supportive environment for those with disabilities. To request reasonable disability accommodations, contact the Deputy Compliance Officer at (417) 836-6755 or DeputyComplianceOfficer@MissouriState.edu.

Storylines for the Weekend
1) Missouri State (11-16, 5-10 Missouri Valley Conference) hosts the top two teams in the league standings this weekend, facing UNI (20-7, 15-0) at 6 p.m. Friday and Drake (18-8, 14-1) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. MoState will honor its five seniors at the Drake match.

2) UNI holds a 59-28 lead in the all-time series, but that margin shrinks to 10-8 UNI in the last 18 meetings. The Bears are 18-19 against the Panthers in Springfield.
    Missouri State owns a 66-14 series lead on Drake. The Bulldogs have won the last five meetings after the Bears took 42 of the previous 43. MSU leads 30-6 in Springfield

3) Missouri State is in the top 14 nationally in five statistical categories. The Bears rank fifth in total digs (1,877), 14th in digs per set (17.38), ninth in total attacks (4,056), 11th in total assists (1,322) and ninth in total kills (1,424).

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 .285 attack efficiency for her career.
    Owen ranks eighth at MSU with 1,442 career digs, while her 79 matches with 10 or more digs rank fifth at MoState.
    Sprague passed 3,000 career assists in the second match of the year and sits third in MSU history in that category with 3,876. She ranks 15th with 1,213 digs as one of three Bears with 3,000 assists and 1,000 digs in a career.

5) A pair of freshman outside hitters have made an immediate impact for the Bears. Aniya Joseph leads all MVC freshmen with a 3.56 kill average, while Finley leads the league's rookies with 317 total kills, good for ninth all-time among MSU freshmen.
    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.
    Rilynn Finley was the MVC's Freshman of the Week on Nov. 4 and 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 rank fifth in the nation with 1,877 total digs and 14th with a 17.38 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 655 victories to his credit, good for 11th among active Division I coaches.

Volleyball Home This Weekend for UNI and Drake

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maddy Bushnell

Rilynn Finley

Aniya Joseph

Kate Owen

Morgan Sprague

Footer