Indiana State hosting Ball State, Chicago State, Eastern Illinois in weekend tournament
TERRE HAUTE, IND. - The Indiana State volleyball team will play in their third straight tournament this weekend, the second one at home, as the Sycamores host the Best Western ISU Classic. The Sycamores were 1-3 in the season opening Best Western Sycamore Classic and went 0-3 at last weekend’s Long Beach State/UC Irvine Invitational.
“We played a higher level of competition last weekend but did not compete at the level that we are capable of,” Traci Dahl, Indiana State head volleyball coach, said. “There were some bright spots that we can take from and some disappointments that we will have to learn from as we prepare for this weekend’s tournament.”
Indiana State (1-6) will open against Eastern Illinois University (5-4) at 7 p.m. (ET) Friday. The Sycamores will square off against Chicago State (0-6) at 1 p.m. (ET) Saturday and then close out the tournament with a 7 p.m. (ET) game Saturday against the Ball State Cardinals (2-4).
The tournament opens with Chicago State taking on Ball State at 4 p.m. (ET) Friday. Saturday’s action begins at 10 a.m. (ET) with Ball State taking on Eastern Illinois. Chicago State and Eastern Illinois will meet at 4:30 p.m. (ET) Saturday.
FOLLOW THE SYCAMORES ONLINE - Live stats and video from this weekend’s tournament will be available through the Indiana State web site (www.gosycamores.com).
RECAPPING LAST WEEK - Indiana State opened the Long Beach State/UC Irvine Invitational on Friday by taking on the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, dropping a three set decision 13-25, 17-25, 16-25. Senior Jodilynne Stoker had 13 of ISU’s 25 kills in the game and senior Whitney Fromm had 19 set assists with sophomore Kiya James picking up 23 digs.
The Sycamores were back on the court right after the UMBC game to take on Long Beach State, losing another three set game 15-25, 16-25, 10-25. Senior Jodilynne Stoker and freshman Morgan Dall had five kills each with senior Whitney Fromm picking up 17 set assists and sophomore Shelbi Fouty led in digs with 10.
Indiana State wrapped up competition against the University of Montana Grizzlies on Saturday, falling again in three sets 16-25, 12-25, 22-25. Junior Ana Maira Charun paced the Sycamores with nine kills while senior Whitney Fromm had 19 set assists and sophomore Kiya James had 12 digs.
THIS WEEK’S OPPONENTS - Indiana State recorded victories over two of the three opponents that they will face this weekend including a 3-1 victory over Eastern Illinois in the ISU Arena and a 3-0 win at Chicago State. ISU and Ball State have not met since 1999 when the Cardinals defeated the Sycamores 3-1 at Ball State.
Eastern Illinois improved to 5-4 on the season with a 3-1 win in their home opener against the University of Illinois-Chicago on Tuesday. The Panthers have won three of their last four, including the last two, under first year coach Alan Segal. Alex Swettler leads the team in kills with a 3.67 kills per set average while Kylie Cavanah leads in set assists with 10.36 assists per set. Brittany Wallace leads the defense with 3.94 digs per set. This will be the 39th time that the Panthers and Sycamores have met with Eastern Illinois holding a 26-12 advantage.
Chicago State is under the direction of first year coach Shakeila Castile-Jones and fell to 0-6 on the season with an 0-3 loss to Loyola-Chicago on Tuesday. Kimberly Naut is leading the attack for the Cougars with a 1.67 kills per set average with Hanya Minta averaging 5.00 assists per set and 2.87 digs per set. This will be the 11th meeting between the two schools with Indiana State winning all 10 previous meetings.
Ball State fell to 2-4 on the season as the had a two-game winning streak snapped by Louisville in a 1-3 loss last Saturday at the Active Ankle Challenge hosted by Ball State. The Cardinals had defeated IPFW 3-0 and SIU Edwardsville 3-1 in the challenge before losing to Louisville. Julie Breivogel leads the Ball State attack with 3.11 kills per set with Brittany McGinnis averaging 7.14 assists per set and Christie Waters 3.67 digs per set. This will be the 31st meeting between the two schools, the first since 1999, with Ball State holding a 25-5 edge in the series.
JAMES HONORED - Indiana State sophomore was named to the Best Western Sycamore Classic All-Tournament team following a vote of participating coaches at the tournament this past weekend in the ISU Arena. James, a defensive specialist/libero from Indianapolis, Ind. (Pike HS), had 55 digs through the four games (3.44 per set) and a service ace.
FROMM MOVING UP - Sycamore setter Whitney Fromm, a senior from Snohomish, Wash., continues to move up in the top 10 list of career set assists for Indiana State. Fromm has 186 set assists this season, upping her career total to 2,253 which moves her into sixth on the ISU All-Time list. The senior moved past Stephanie Gale, who had 2,178 assists from 1984-1987.
OPPONENTS IN THE RANKINGS - One Sycamore opponents is ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I Coaches Poll Top 25 and two others receives votes in the poll that was released on Sept. 7. Wichita State is ranked 23rd in the current poll moving up two spots from 25th. Long Beach State opened the season ranked 23rd but has dropped to 28th in the last AVCA poll. Northern Iowa received votes and appeared on at least two ballots according to this weeks poll, earning 10 points an a ranking of 40th.
SYCAMORES IN THE VALLEY - Two Indiana State players are in the top 10 of the Missouri Valley Conference statistics after the second weekend of the 2009 season. ISU senior Whitney Fromm rankings 10th in the Valley in set assists with an average of 7.44 assists per set while sophomore Kiya James is ranked 8th in digs with an average of 3.90 per set. The Sycamores are the top team in the Valley in digs.
