Match Notes | Live Audio | Live Stats
NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State volleyball team will play three matches in a period of just over 24 hours when it heads to Mizzou's Tiger Invitational this weekend in Columbia, Missouri.
Illinois State will begin with Miami (Ohio) at 4 p.m. Friday, before taking on Rice and Utah on Saturday, at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., respectively, at Mizzou's Hearnes Center.
Illinois State (1-3) returns to action after a loss to Saint Louis in its home opener Wednesday night at Redbird Arena. Aly Dawson tallied a team-high 15 kills, while Lexi Wallen added a career-high 11, but the Redbirds were unable to overcome a big night from Saint Louis' Danielle Rygelski, who notched a match-high 26 kills, including 14 in the first set.
The Tiger Invitational will be the second of four-consecutive weekend tournaments to start the season for Illinois State. The Redbirds opened the 2016 campaign at the Loyola Marymount Invitational in Los Angeles last weekend, falling to a pair of nationally-ranked squads in Loyola Marymount and UCLA, before earning their first win of the season over Niagara to close out the weekend.
Illinois State has limited history against this weekend's opponents and has not faced any of the teams in the past five years. The most recent meeting against an opponent from this weekend came in 2010, when Illinois State lost to Miami (Ohio) in Oxford, Ohio.
Illinois State will also be in action next weekend, at the Blue Raider Bash, hosted by Middle Tennessee, Sept. 9-10. The Redbirds will play in the UNI Tournament Sept. 16-17, where the team will play its first Missouri Valley Conference match of the season, against host Northern Iowa, on Sept. 16.
Links for live audio and stats for all Illinois State matches from the Tiger Invitational are available at GoRedbirds.com, and fans can follow @RedbirdVB on Twitter for live updates from every match this season.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
