NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State volleyball team (25-7) will make its 14th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history on Friday, when it takes on the Cincinnati Bearcats (25-7) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First serve is set for 4:30 p.m. at the Al McGuire Center.
Scouting the Opponent
Cincinnati, out of the American Athletic Conference, ended the season with a 25-7 record and 15-3 in conference play – runner-up to No. 13 National Seed UCF. They are led by four-time AAC Player of the Week Jordan Thompson, a redshirt junior outside hitter who leads the country by averaging 6.28 kills per set and 791 total kills.
Scouting the Field
The other portion of the four-team regional features the No. 14 national seed and host Marquette, who will follow at 7 p.m. against High Point. The winners will play on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. and the champion of the four-team sub-regional advances to the third and fourth rounds Dec. 7-8 at a site to be determined.
Tournament History
Illinois State is 3-13 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, with appearances in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007 and 2014. The Redbirds came back from an 0-2 deficit against Marquette in 2014 for their first postseason tournament win since 1996, before falling to then-No. 4 Wisconsin in the second round.
It Takes Two
For the 15th time in league history, at least two Missouri Valley Conference volleyball teams have been selected as part of the field of 64 to play for the 2018 NCAA national title. Co-regular season champion and at-large selection Illinois State is joined by MVC co-regular season and tournament champion UNI in the 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship field. The pairs' selections marks the 11th time in the last 13 years that the MVC has placed multiple teams into the NCAA tourney.
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