Conference play is now in full swing following this past weekend’s slate of matches. Drake, Murray State, UNI and Valparaiso pace the conference race after the first full weekend of play with unbeaten marks. Drake and UNI each earned wins at Bradley and Illinois State, while Murray State beat Indiana State and Evansville and Valpo beat Missouri State and Southern Illinois. Belmont, Evansville, UIC and Southern Illinois all sit 1-1 after the first weekend of action.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
This week's schedule features a pair of league matches on Tuesday and a full slate of 12 matches over the weekend. This weekend's slate is highlighted by UNI and Drake hosting UIC and Valpo.
MVC STATS
NCAA LEADERS
Drake's Addison Beagle and Jada Wills and Evansville's Giulia Cardona each enter the week top three in the nation in a statistical category.
- Addison Beagle (DU): 2nd nationally in assists per set (11.44)
- Jada Wills (DU): 3rd nationally in digs per set (5.83)
- Giulia Cardona (UE): 1st nationally in points per set (6.63)
- Giulia Cardona (UE): 2nd nationally in attacks per set (14.91)
- Giulia Cardona (UE): 1st nationally in kills per set (5.84)
AT THE NET
This week, Connor sat down with Bradley head coach Alicia Williams to discuss how the Braves battle adversity and look forward to making impactful moves in Valley play this season.
Belmont Bruins
- Belmont finished the week 1-2 and 1-1 in MVC play. The Bruins collected a sweep over the Sycamores to open conference play.
- The team averaged 12.60 kills per set on a .208 team hitting percentage this week. Belmont also averaged 1.1 aces and 1.60 blocks per set.
BRADLEY Braves
- Bradley opened up their conference play with #1 UNI and #2 Drake. In set one Bradley fought hard to take it but ultimately lost the set 30-32 after an intense back and forth. Against UNI, Bradley racked up 39 Kills with 20 Errors in 119 total attempts. Against Drake, Bradley seemed to struggle a bit (with only 27 kills and 18 errors on 107 total attempts) but still racked up 46 digs during the three-set loss.
- Jasmine Green once again had an impressive game against UNI with 13 of the 39 total kills and hitting for a .280. Kendall Minta also showed off against UNI with seven kills and hitting for .545. Dru Kuck had a pretty good 'digging' night adding 13 to her over 1000 career digs against Drake. Karagan Coggins is now over 300 in block assists and continues to make her way up the ranking in the record book to almost 4th place.
DRAKE Bulldogs
- The Bulldogs began their 2023 MVC schedule with a pair of road wins over Illinois State (9/22) and Bradley (9/24). Drake opened the weekend with a 3-1 defeat of the Redbirds in which they battled back from an early deficit after dropping the first set. Darrin McBroom’s squad continued their momentum in Peoria the following evening and sprinted past the Braves to improve to 2-0 in conference play.
- Over the two matches, three Bulldog hitters recorded 20+ kills led by Taylor Oberpriller’s 29. The Bulldogs will return to Des Moines this weekend for their home debut against UIC and Valparaiso.
EVANSVILLE Purple Aces
- Averaging an unfathomable 8.86 kills per set in the opening weekend of MVC play, Giulia Cardona improved her season average to a NCAA-best 5.84 kills per set.
- In Saturday’s road victory at Belmont, Cardona set her career mark with 36 kills while hitting an impressive .370. The 36-kill performance was the most nationally in 2023 in a 4-set match while tying for the most in any NCAA match this season, regardless of length.
- With 6.63 points per set, Cardona is also tops in the nation.
UIC Flames
- The Flames opened up MVC play splitting their two matches at home with a loss to Southern Illinois and a win against Missouri State.
- Leading the way was sophomore Cleo Lorenzo, who collected 25 kills with a hitting percentage of .457. Senior Martina Delucchi earned 31 kills including a 21-kill performance in the loss to the Salukis.
- The Flames hit the road for a three-match road trip. After facing Valparaiso Tuesday night, UIC takes on Drake (Fri.) then UNI (Sat.)
ILLINOIS STATE Redbirds
- Graduate student Mari Hinkle dug nine more balls Saturday, moving her collegiate career total to 997 as she will look to eclipse the 1,000+ career dig mark next weekend.
- Junior Megan Haynes notched her first career ace to end the first set versus Drake last Friday, which also was the latter of her first two serves as a Redbird.
- ISU held its annual “Pack the Arena” event last Friday in the MVC opener versus Drake as the ‘Birds saw 2,017 Redbird fans pile into CEFCU Arena.
INDIANA STATE Sycamores
- Indiana State’s freshman class continues to make a significant impact in the Sycamore rotation, with all four freshmen who were active for Indiana State’s first two conference matches making major contributions. Avery Hales dished out 46 assists in her first career start for the Blue and White against Murray State, while Ella Scott had a season-best 18 kills on 23 attempts against the Racers. Kira Holland tallied double-digit digs (13) against Belmont and double-digit kills against Murray State, and Macy Lengacher has firmly entrenched herself as Indiana State’s libero.
- Indiana State had 10 service aces in its most recent match against Murray State, marking the third time this season that the Sycamores served up double-digit aces in a match. The Sycamores had just one such match in 2022, with that not coming until the tail end of the season. Emma Kaelin (sixth, 0.37) and Ella Scott (ninth, 0.36) both rank in the top 10 of the MVC in aces per set, while Macy Lengacher has also notched double-digit aces this season for the Sycamores. Four different Sycamores (Hannah Baudin, Avery Hales, Kaelin, Scott) have at least one match with three or more aces this season.
MISSOURI STATE Bears
- Missouri State had 110 digs in Friday’s match at Valparaiso, the most for the Bears since the 2014 season finale, and just the fifth time the club reached the 110-mark since 25-point sets began in 2008. Teagan Polcovich had 36 digs in the contest, tying the No. 7 single-match total in program history with the most for a Bear since she tied the school record of 46 in the MVC Tournament in April 2021.
- MoState returns to Hammons Student Center this weekend to face Indiana State and Evansville. The Bears are 4-2 at home in 2023 and have finished above .500 in home MVC matches in 30 of 32 seasons in the league.
Murray State Racers
- The Racers swept their home opener and first Missouri Valley Conference weekend with a sweep win over Evansville and 3-1 win over Indiana State.
- Darci Metzger led the Racers in kills and digs with 17 and 11, in the win over Evansville. Metzger added a team-high 22 kills vs. Indiana State.
- Murray State will visit rival Belmont for their third MVC matchup of the season, Tuesday.
UNI Panthers
- UNI held Illinois State to just 32 digs in Saturday night's win, the fewest by a Panther opponent all season. The Panthers recorded a .344 hitting percentage as a team against the Redbirds, posting .300 or better in every set, a first for the program this season.
- UNI has started 2-0 in league play 18 times under head coach Bobbi Petersen. In each of the previous three seasons they've done so, the Panthers have gone on to win at least a share of the MVC regular season title and have made the MVC Tournament championship match.
- Emily Holterhaus can become just the fourth player in Panther history to play in 500 career sets this weekend, currently tied for fourth-most in program history with 495. She can also move into a tie for second in career matches played, currently sitting on 137 match appearances.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS Salukis
- Southern Illinois split the opening weekend of Valley play as the Salukis traveled north to take on UIC and Valparaiso. Southern began the weekend with a four-set win (28-26, 26-24, 23-25, 25-23) over the Flames in a match where each set was decided by just two points. Both teams shared similar numbers with 57 kills and 21 errors for SIU and UIC each.
- Following Friday’s win, the Salukis came up short in Valpo in three-sets (21-25, 24-26, 19-25). Valpo's stingy defense gave the Salukis trouble throughout the match as the Dawgs hit for just a .147 hitting percentage and 36 kills.
- Southern Illinois returns to Carbondale as they welcome Evansville and Indiana State to Davies Gym for another weekend of Valley action.
VALPARAISO Beacons
- While Mallory Januski was posting 4.25 kills/set on .458 hitting, fellow middle Miranda Strongman was doing her best to match Januski's performance when she came into the front row. Strongman surpassed her previous season best of 10 kills in both of Valpo's wins, starting out with 13 kills on .324 hitting and a season-high six blocks in the win over Missouri State. The fifth-year middle followed that up with 11 kills on .556 hitting in the sweep of SIU. For the weekend, Strongman hit .404 with 3.00 kills/set and 0.88 blocks/set.
- Fifth-year outside Bella Ravotto is approaching a milestone after registering 29 digs over the pair of matches last weekend. Ravotto owns 1,452 career digs, just 24 digs shy of cracking the program's career top-10 chart.