Valley teams combined to post a 23-15 record in non-conference matches during the second weekend of play. Seven Valley teams sit above .500 on the season entering week three. Murray State, Evansville and Valparaiso each enter the week riding win streaks of three or better.
Valley teams notched a pair of wins over Power Five competition over the weekend as UNI swept LSU and Belmont swept Syracuse. LSU was receiving votes in last week's AVCA Top 25 poll. Belmont's win over the Orange was the program's 1st power five win since 2014.
This week’s schedule features 38 matches, including five matches vs. Power Five opponents.
- Illinois at UIC (Tuesday)
- TCU vs. UNI (Thursday)
- Valparaiso vs. Indiana (Friday)
- UNI at Texas A&M (Friday)
- Missouri State at Iowa (Saturday)
🏐 At The Net 🏐with Connor Onion. This week we sat down with Head Coach Katelyn Harrison of Belmont volleyball to discuss the Bruins' win over Power 5 opponent Syracuse over the past weekend & what the Bruins look forward to this season.
Belmont Bruins
- Belmont concluded the weekend 2-1 at the Kathy Deboer Invitational hosted by Michigan State University. Belmont collected back-to-back sweeps this weekend versus Delaware State and Syracuse. The team's sweep against Syracuse was Belmont's first win against a power five since 2014.
- Setter Kamryn Olson and outside Brooke Gilleland were both named to the Kathy DeBoer Invitational All-Tournament Team. Olson posted 82 assists and 25 digs while Gilleland added 26 kills with a .400 hitting percentage at the tournament.
BRADLEY Braves
- Loren Scott is the first Brave to record a double-double this season, tallying 23 assists and 12 digs in Saturday's 2-3 defeat to Central Michigan. Scott totaled 51 assists throughout the Chippewa Invitational, where Bradley went 1-2. The Braves fell to Saint Louis on Friday, 1-3, and swept UAlbany 3-0 later that evening, followed by a 2-3 defeat to CMU on Saturday.
- Bradley tallied 14 service aces in Saturday's five-set defeat against Central Michigan, the most in a five-set match in 2017. Six Braves recorded service aces with Corrie Brown led the Braves with five.
- Karagan Coggin recorded 10 block assists over the weekend to move into seventh place all-time in block assists in Bradley history with 283, one behind sixth-place Abigail Kohnen ... Coggin also moved into fifth place all-time in sets played since 1984 with 446.
DRAKE Bulldogs
- The Bulldogs traveled west for their second weekend of the 2023 season where they competed at the Cougar Challenge hosted by Washington State. Drake went 2-1 over their three games in Pullman with both wins coming via sweep over Tulsa and Northwestern State.
- The two Bulldog victories bookended Drake’s only loss of the tournament, a four-set battle against No. 17 Washington State. The Cougars were Drake’s third ranked opponent in their first six matches, already the most in a single season in Drake volleyball history.
EVANSVILLE Purple Aces
- Giulia Cardona continues to show why she is not only one of the best players in the MVC, but also the entire nation. In Evansville’s weekend matches at the Samford Invite, Cardona averaged 6.25 kills, 2.50 digs and 1.00 blocks per set while hitting an unreal .342. The win over North Alabama saw her put together the top performance of her career with a career-best 32 kills and a .459 hitting mark. She added 12 digs and 6 block assists. Cardona begins the week ranked second in the nation in kills (5.55/set) and points (6.58/set).
UIC Flames
- For the second straight weekend, UIC hosted a slew of opponents at its brand-new home in the Credit Union 1 Arena, finishing 2-1 at the event. They began were they left off the week before, sweeping both SIUE and UAB Friday night. Four of the five wins for the Flames' wins came off match sweeps to start the season, before their momentum was snuffed Saturday against Western Michigan. Senior Becca Oldendorf racked up 25 kills and eleven total blocks to be selected to the UIC Invitational All-Tournament Team. Senior Zahria Woodard earned 15 kills and 15 blocks throughout the event.
- UIC is now set to host Illinois Tuesday night for the program's first clash on the volleyball court since 1982. That will be followed by the Flames' first competition on the road, traveling to Ohio to partake in the Dayton Invitational starting on Friday.
ILLINOIS STATE Redbirds
- Illinois State is set to play its first match at the newly-named CEFCU Arena with the Redbird Classic Friday/Saturday against New Mexico State, Saint Louis, and Miami (OH).
- Graduate student Mari Hinkle is approaching 1,000 career digs with 887 career digs (104 at Illinois State, 741 at Iowa, and 42 at UCLA).
INDIANA STATE Sycamores
- A new wave of talent is coming through the Indiana State volleyball program, as evidenced by the Sycamores’ play at the Lindenwood Invitational. Indiana State’s kills leader was a freshman in two of the Sycamores’ three matches last weekend (Ella Scott vs. Austin Peay, Kira Holland vs. Lindenwood), while freshman libero Macy Lengacher registered 30 digs against Lindenwood, the most in a four-set match for any MVC athlete this season. Four of Indiana State’s six freshmen on the roster have seen playing time through the first two weekends, with three of those (Kira Holland, Macy Lengacher and Ella Scott) seeing significant playing time in the Sycamore rotation.
- Indiana State libero Macy Lengacher had a match to remember in the Sycamores’ weekend finale against Lindenwood. Lengacher led all players in the match with 30 digs, the most by a Sycamore since Melina Tedrow had 44 against Evansville on Oct. 11, 2019. In addition, Lengacher became the first player in the MVC this season with 30 or more digs in a match that did not go five sets, with her 7.50 digs per set against Lindenwood being the second-highest per-set average in a single match this season by an MVC athlete.
MISSOURI STATE Bears
- Two Bears are closing in on major statistical milestones this weekend. Azyah Green has 487 career blocks, putting her 13 away from becoming the fifth player in school history to reach 500 stuffs. Teagan Polcovich’s next dig will make her the 26th Bear to reach 1,000 in their MSU career.
- Missouri State continued its strong serving over the weekend weekend, recording 20 aces against 18 errors while only allowing seven aces to the opposition. So far in six matches, the Bears have served more aces than the opponent five times and had more aces than errors on four occasions, all adding to a net gain of 18 points at the service line.
Murray State Racers
- The Racers went 3-0 through the weekend at the Bellarmine Classic. They started the weekend with two sweeps against Southern Indiana and New Orleans, Friday. To cap off a blazing weekend, the Racers took a 3-1 win over the hosts, Bellarmine.
- Head Coach, Dave Schwepker earned his 400th career win on a sweep over Southern Indiana. Schwepker has a career record of 402-407 and is 389-332 on the Racers’ helm.
- Darci Metzger was named tournament MVP after making 48 kills to average 4.80 per set through the weekend. She posted a career-high of 24 kills with a .486 hit percentage in the win over Bellarmine.
- Bailey DeMier was named Bellarmine Classic All-Tournament team. She jumped to sixth in the NCAA in total assists with 269 and 10th in assists per set (11.21). She posted 129 assists through the weekend to average 12.90 per set.
UNI Panthers
- Emily Holterhaus moved into tenth in school history with her 1,290th career kill at the Bluejay Invitational, passing UNI Hall of Famer and current assistant coach Kim (McCaffrey) Davis (1997-01). She is now just 13 kills from moving up to ninth on the list ahead of Ashten Stelken (2005-08). Holterhaus has also jumped from ninth to third on UNI’s career attack attempts list this season with 3,890 attacks.
- Setter Tayler Alden became the eighth player in program history to reach 3,000 career assists in UNI’s win against Ball State. She also passed Rachel Koop (2015-19) for eighth on the program’s all-time list.
- Libero Erin Powers reached 1,200 career digs against Creighton. The Mukwonago, Wisconsin native notched 1,090 digs from 2020-22 at UAB.
- The Panthers will face their fourth and fifth opponent who qualified for last season's NCAA Tournament this week when they take on TCU and Utah State at the Texas A&M Invitational. UNI is 2-1 against 2022 NCAA Tournament teams this year with wins over LSU and Ball State.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS Salukis
- Southern Illinois improved to 4-1 over the weekend as it travelled to Charleston Southern for a three-match tournament. The Salukis won their first two matches in five-sets over NC A&T and Chattanooga before falling to Charleston Southern in the tournament finale.
- Sophomores Kelly Franklin and Cecilia Bulmahn were named to the All-Tournament team.
- SIU returns to Carbondale for a six-match home stand beginning Wednesday, September 6 against Lindenwood. Following the match against Lindenwood, the Salukis will host a pair of tournaments over the following weekends.
VALPARAISO Beacons
- Valpo claimed the crown at the Popcorn Classic once again this year, a feat which is the norm for the volleyball program. Valpo has won eight in-season tournaments at home in 12 attempts under head coach Carin Avery and owns a 35-5 overall record in those 12 tournaments.
- With the Popcorn Classic championship, Valpo has claimed 34 in-season tournament championships in all under Avery and has won at least one crown in 17 of her 22 seasons. A win in either of the season's last two tournaments would mark the 12th time in Avery's tenure Valpo has won multiple titles in the same season.