ISU Volleyball

Oct. 11, 2005
Volleyball
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SYCAMORES HEAD TO ILLINOIS STATE AND IPFW

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State faces two tough tests this weekend as it travels to Redbird Arena for a contest against MVC rival Illinois State on Saturday night, before heading to Fort Wayne for a non-conference matchup against IPFW on Sunday evening. Illinois State is 10-6 on the season, but has a 7-1 record at home with its only loss in five games to Illinois in the first match of the year. The Sycamores have never beaten Illinois State at Redbird Arena since it opened in 1989. ISU has also never defeated IPFW, but the two teams have only played twice. The Mastodons earned five-set wins in 1984 and 2001. IPFW is 14-2 on the season with one of the losses coming to No. 5 Florida.

Last Time Out
• The Sycamores pushed Bradley to five-games on Friday night before dropping a 3-0 decision to Northern Iowa on Saturday in MVC action at ISU Arena. Indiana State took a 2-1 lead against the Braves, who entered the match with an unblemished MVC record, but BU turned it up over the last two games to pull out the victory. ISU posted season highs in digs (80) and blocks (13) in the match. The Sycamores tallied a .178 attack percentage against UNI, but the Panthers used steady play to improve to 5-2 in conference action.

Seniors Lead The Way
• Three seniors led the Sycamores’ offensive attack against Bradley on Friday. Tessa Wolf posted a match-high 15 kills, while Katie Freeman added a double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs. Sarah Smith also was in double-digits with 11 kills and the three veterans combined for eight blocks.

Pollard Stepping Up
• Meghan Pollard posted a career-high 28 digs against Bradley. The total is also a season-high for the Sycamores and ranks as the 12th best total all-time at Indiana State. She followed with a team-best 12 digs against UNI as she averaged 5.00 digs per game for the weekend. Pollard has led the Sycamores in digs in four straight matches after accomplishing the feat just one time in the first 14 matches.

Wolf Attack
• Tessa Wolf led Indiana State in kills in both matches last weekend with two double-digit totals. Wolf recorded 15 kills and three blocks against Bradley and followed up the performance with 14 kills and a .281 attack percentage against UNI. She now has six of the top eight kill totals for the Sycamores this season and also has led the Sycamores in kills nine times, including four of the last five matches.

Scouting Report
Illinois State (10-6, 6-2)
• Illinois State enters the weekend on quite a roll as it has won four straight and six of its last seven matches. The Redbirds are always tough to play at home and this season is no different as they are 7-1 at Redbird Arena with their only loss to Illinois in five games in the season opener. Kari Staehlin leads Illinois State with 3.82 kills per game and a .380 attack percentage, which ranks third in the MVC. Erin Lindsey is a first-year setter for the Redbirds and has earned MVC Freshman of the Week honors three times, including last week. She is averaging 13.03 assists per game, which ranks second in the league.
IPFW Mastodons (14-2)
• IPFW is off to a great start with 14 wins in 16 matches, and one of the losses was at No. 5 Florida early in the season. The Mastodons are No. 48 in the latest RichKern.com RPI poll, which is the second highest ranking of any ISU opponent and just two spots behind the top foe Illinois. Fabiana Souza tops IPFW with 4.70 kills per game, while Claire Jackson averages 1.34 blocks per game.

Trame Trumping Opponents
• Trame posted a career-high eight blocks against Bradley, with two block solos and six block assists. She followed that effort by assisting on all six of the Sycamore blocks against Northern Iowa. For the weekend, Trame averaged 1.75 blocks per game. She also moved into fifth place on the freshman records list with 18 block solos, which also leads the MVC this year.

Cox is Diggin’ It
• Kristy Cox is already making an impact on the ISU record book. Cox has 245 digs on the season, which moved her to sixth on the ISU freshman records list (pg. 6).. She has also led the team in digs in 14 matches. Earlier in the year, Cox tallied a season-best 26 digs against Eastern Illinois, setting an ISU freshman record and marking the third most digs in a three-game match in ISU history. On the year she is averaging 4.02 digs per game, which ranks fourth on the ISU all-time list.

Setting It Up
• Tera Fish and Alisha Polite each recorded double-digit assist totals against both Creighton and Drake. It is the first time the Sycamores have had two players with 10+ assist totals in a match since the 2002 season.

Polite’s Career Night
• Freshman Alisha Polite had the best night of her young career against Bradley on Friday as she posted season-bests in all four major statistical categories. Polite recorded 37 assists, nine kills, six digs and four blocks as ISU pushed BU to five games.

Freeman Does It All
• Senior Katie Freeman has continued her excellent play in several different aspects of the game. Freeman is second on the squad averaging 2.84 digs per game, while also posting 1.72 kills per game. She has stepped up her play in conference action as she is second on the team with 1.88 kills per game.

Large Footwear
• The 2005 squad has some big shoes to fill after the Sycamores lost six major contributors from last season. ISU lost over 70 percent of its kills, digs and blocks from a year ago and its starting setter, who accounted for 86 percent of its assists. In addition, the 2004 seniors won a total of 30 Missouri Valley Conference matches during their career, the most ever by a four-year Sycamore class.

Triple the Fun
• Junior Tera Fish posted a triple-double in just her fifth contest with the Sycamores after transferring to ISU from Dixie State College. Fish recorded 10 kills, 15 digs and 45 assists against Austin Peay with a .571 attack percentage. It is the second triple-double for the Sycamores in a span of 21 matches, as Kerri Byrum notched one last season against Bradley. Prior to Byrum, the feat had not been accomplished by a Sycamore in over four years.

Not Your Ordinary Smith
• Senior Sarah Smith has 562 kills in her four year career which is the most of any current Sycamore. Smith’s career .233 attack percentage ranks seventh on ISU’s all-time list.

Up Next
• The Sycamores begin the second round of conference action as they travel to Drake on Friday and Creighton on Saturday. The Bulldogs and Bluejays were able to earn 3-0 victories over the Sycamores at ISU Arena the second week of MVC action.