NORMAL, Ill. – The reigning Missouri Valley Conference champions will begin the 2021 MVC on the road as Illinois State takes on Drake and UNI this weekend. The Redbird will face the Drake Bulldogs on Friday, September 24 at 6 p.m. and the UNI Panthers on Saturday, September 26 at 5 p.m.
HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
@ Drake: WATCH | LIVE STATS
@ UNI: WATCH | LIVE STATS
LAST TIME AGAINST DRAKE
After dropping the first set against Drake, the Illinois State volleyball team fought its way back to claim the series sweep of the Bulldogs with a four-set win at Redbird Arena on Feb. 15, 2021.
LAST TIME AGAINST UNI
The No. 3 seeded Illinois State volleyball team swept the No. 1 seed UNI Panthers in the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference championship match to become the first three-seed to ever win the tournament title. Stef Jankiewicz was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, while Sarah Kushner and Kaylee Martin were placed on the All-Tournament Team.
THE 'BIRDS IN VALLEY OPENERS
The Illinois State has historically had a strong start to Missouri Valley Conference play, going 8-2 in conference openers over the last 10 seasons, including winning their last three MVC opening matches in the 2020-21 season, the 2019 season and the 2018 season.
ROAD TO 100 WINS AT ISU
In only her fifth season at the helm of the Illinois State volleyball program, Head Coach Leah Johnson is approaching her 100th victory as a Redbird. Johnson needs just 11 more wins to reach the milestone win even with a shortened season in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since taking over as ISU's head coach in 2017, Johnson has coached the 'Birds to three 20+ win seasons, three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, two MVC Tournament titles and two MVC regular season titles.
KUSHNER ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Junior Sarah Kushner led the Redbirds this past weekend at the Redbird Classic, recording 38 kills for an average of 3.17 kills/set and hitting .202, earning a spot on the all-tournament team. Additionally, Kushner ended the weekend with the second-most digs on the team with 31 over the three matches played (12 sets). In ISU's win over the Missouri Tigers, Kushner finished with her seventh double-double of the season with 15 kills and 16 digs in the four-set victory.
For all latest on Illinois State volleyball, stay tuned at GoRedbirds.com and follow the team at @RedbirdVB (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram).
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