NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State volleyball team will travel to Iowa for a pair of Missouri Valley Conference matches this weekend, as the Redbirds are set to take on Northern Iowa Friday and Drake Saturday. Both matches are set for 7 p.m. starts.
It has been less than a month since Illinois State last faced this weekend's opponents, having scored a 3-1 win over Drake at Redbird Arena on Oct. 2, and a three-set sweep of Northern Iowa the following night.
Illinois State (17-7, 7-4 MVC) enters the weekend after posting a 2-1 record over the previous week. Illinois State earned a 3-1 win in a mid-week match at Indiana State on Oct. 20, before splitting a pair of matches last weekend at Redbird Arena. The Redbirds lost a five-set match to Wichita State Oct. 23, but bounced back with a straight-sets win over Missouri State Oct. 24.
A pair of Redbirds earned MVC weekly honors for their efforts over the previous week, as Courtney Pence and Lexi Varga were both recognized by the league Monday. Pence was named the MVC Defensive Player for the second week in a row, while Varga earned MVC Freshman of the Week honors. Through the first two months of the season, Illinois State has claimed at least one of the league's weekly awards in six of nine weeks.
Northern Iowa (13-11, 7-4) is tied with Illinois State for fourth place in the league standings, just one-half game back of a share of second place. The Panthers have the edge in the all-time series against Illinois State, owning a 46-24 advantage in the series dating back to 1982.
Drake (13-15, 4-7) is in seventh place in the Valley standings. Illinois State has an all-time record of 59-7 against the Bulldogs, in a series that began in 1978.
Both of this weekend's matches will be streamed live on ESPN3, and links for live stats, audio and video can be found at GoRedbirds.com. Fans can also receive live match updates by following @RedbirdVB on Twitter.
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