Match Notes | Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats
NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State volleyball team will begin play at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Northern Iowa's McLeod Center Thursday in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The No. 5 seed Redbirds will open up against No. 4 seed Southern Illinois in the first quarterfinal match, beginning at 5 p.m.
Illinois State (16-14, 9-9 MVC) dropped both its meetings with Southern Illinois (21-11, 12-6) this season, though both were close matches. The most recent match, Nov. 4 at Redbird Arena, went a full five sets before the Salukis prevailed.
The winner of the Illinois State-Southern Illinois match will advance to face top seed and MVC regular-season champion Missouri State (25-7, 16-2) on Friday at 5 p.m. Illinois State also lost both its matches to the Bears, but took Missouri State to five sets in a match Oct. 14 at Redbird Arena.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 3 UNI (23-8, 14-4) will face No. 6 Loyola Chicago (14-17, 9-9) Thursday at 7:30 p.m., with the winner taking on No. 2 Wichita State (22-7, 15-3) Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The championship match will be held Saturday at 4 p.m. at the McLeod Center.
Before the tournament begins, UNI and The Valley will host an awards presentation ceremony at the McLeod Center on Thursday at 12 p.m. Fans can follow @RedbirdVB on Twitter for live updates from the awards presentation.
Thursday's match, and all five matches from the Valley Tournament, will be broadcast live on ESPN3. Links for live video, audio and stats are available at GoRedbirds.com.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
