NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State volleyball team will open the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament as the No. 5 seed and will face No. 4 Northern Iowa in a quarterfinal match at 5 p.m. Thursday, the Redbirds learned Saturday night at the conclusion of MVC regular-season play.
Illinois State (22-9, 12-6 MVC) split a pair of matches against Northern Iowa (18-13, 12-6) during the regular season, with each team winning on its home court.
Wichita State will enter the tournament as the league's top-seeded team after winning an outright MVC regular-season title. Southern Illinois will be the No. 2 seed, and both Wichita State and Southern Illinois will receiving opening-round byes. No. 3 Missouri State and No. 6 Loyola will face off in the other quarterfinal match Thursday, following Illinois State's match with Northern Iowa.
Illinois State finished the regular-season with a 3-1 win over visiting Indiana State Friday night as senior Ashley Rosch tallied a match-high 21 kills in her final match at Redbird Arena.
All matches from the MVC Tournament will be streamed live online on ESPN3. Links for live video, audio and stats can be found at GoRedbirds.com. Fans can also receive live updates by following @RedbirdVB on Twitter.
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