Storylines for the Weekend
1) Missouri State (10-15, 4-9 Missouri Valley Conference) makes its final road trip of the regular season this weekend to take on Bradley (11-14, 6-7) at 6 p.m. Friday and Illinois State (12-14, 6-7) at 5 p.m. Saturday.
2) The Bears are 58-15 against Bradley including a 26-9 record in Peoria, though Bradley has won four consecutive meetings on its home court with MSU last winning at Renaissance Coliseum in 2017. The Braves are winners of seven of the last 12 in the series overall after losing 18 in a row from 2009-17.
Missouri State has played Illinois State more than any other opponent and holds a 57-54 series lead. MSU is 20-22 versus the Redbirds in Normal in a series that dates to 1974. MoState has won its last two matches at CEFCU Arena, most recently in October 2022.
3) Missouri State is in the top 12 nationally in five statistical categories. The Bears rank third in total digs (1,752), 11th in digs per set (17.52), 11th in total attacks (3,747), 11th in total assists (1,226) and 12th in total kills (1,313).
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 .284 attack efficiency for her career.
Owen ranks eighth at MSU with 1,414 career digs, while her 77 matches with 10 or more digs ranks 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 3,802. She ranks 17th with 1,189 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 281 total kills, good for 11th 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 third in the nation with 1,752 total digs and 11th with a 17.52 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 654 victories to his credit, good for 11th among active Division I coaches.
