NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State volleyball team will hit the road this weekend with a chance to return home with the Missouri Valley Conference's regular-season title.
Illinois State (20-5, 14-0 MVC) travels to Northern Iowa Saturday and Drake Sunday, seeking to extend its overall and conference winning streaks. The Redbirds have won 16-consecutive matches overall, a streak tied for the fourth-longest in program history, and 14 straight in Valley play, a run that marks the team's best start to an MVC campaign.
The Redbirds can also claim an outright MVC regular-season title, and wrap up a No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, with a win at Northern Iowa Saturday.
"We're looking forward to a tough, but exciting challenge this weekend in Cedar Falls, as well as in Des Moines, with a quick turnaround on Sunday," Myers said. "This will be a good test for our team."
The Redbirds will take on Northern Iowa Saturday at 7 p.m. in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Northern Iowa (17-9, 11-3 MVC) is currently in second place in the Valley standings after winning five of its past six league contests. Although the Panthers own a 47-20 edge in the all-time series with Illinois State, the Redbirds claimed a 3-1 victory in the most recent meeting, on Oct. 17 at Redbird Arena.
Illinois State won't have long to recover before taking on Drake Sunday at 2 p.m. in Des Moines, Iowa. Drake (10-15, 2-12 MVC) is mired in ninth place in the league standings, but the Bulldogs presented the Redbirds their toughest challenge during MVC play so far this year. Drake won the first two sets of its match at Redbird Arena on Oct. 18, before the Redbirds bounced back to win the final three sets to remain unbeaten in league play.
The Redbirds will play two more matches at home next weekend, as it welcomes Missouri State on Nov. 21, and Wichita State on Nov. 22. The Redbirds have already punched their ticket for the MVC Championship the following weekend, Nov. 27-29, which will be held at Northern Iowa's McLeod Center.
Both of this weekend's matches, and all Redbird matches this season, can be heard live online at: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/isu/.
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