University of Southern Indiana Volleyball opens its 2021 season Friday at 11:30 a.m. when it takes on No. 23 Wheeling Jesuit University at the University of West Florida Springhill Suites Invitational in Pensacola, Florida. USI also plays West Florida Friday at 7 p.m. to finish its opening day of competition.
The Screaming Eagles finish their weekend slate Saturday with matches against Palm Beach Atlantic University (11 a.m.) and Spring Hill College (3 p.m.).
This weekend’s matches mark the first regular-season non-conference contests for the Eagles since the 2019 season.
Live stats and video will be available on GoUSIEagles.com, while ticket information for this weekend’s match can be found on the tournament web page.
2021 USI Volleyball Notes
• Eagles coming off exhibition win. USI Volleyball is coming off a five-set exhibition win over Division I University of Evansville on August 24. The Eagles rallied from a 10-2 fifth-set deficit to salvage the win after seeing a two-set lead slip away.
• Welcome back. The Eagles welcomed fans into Screaming Eagles Arena for the first time since the 2019-20 basketball season when they hosted UE last week. The two teams played in front of an estimated crowd of more than 700 fans for their exhibition tilt.
• USI picked to finish 2nd in GLVC East Division. The Eagles were picked to finish second in the GLVC East Division. USI received 14 points and two first-place votes and trailed Lewis, which had 15 points and three first-place votes.
• Eagles receiving votes outside AVCA Top 25. USI tallied 145 votes outside the AVCA Top 25 Preseason Coaches’ Poll. The Eagles finished the 2020-21 season ranked No. 15 and were ranked as high as No. 12 during the regular-season after earning their first-ever national ranking earlier in the year.
• Looking for repeat. The Eagles capped a historic 2020-21 campaign with their first GLVC Tournament title since 2004 and third in program history. USI ended the regular-season with a five-set, come-from-behind road win over then No. 1 previously unbeaten Lewis before winning three matches in the GLVC Tournament, including a semi-final sweep of nationally-ranked Missouri-St. Louis.
• Raff completes circle. Head Coach Randi Raff came full circle when USI won the GLVC Tournament last spring. She was a senior on USI’s 2004 GLVC Tournament championship team and returned to lead USI in 2019.
• Big return. USI brings back nine players, including all its starters, off a team that finished the 2020-21 season 17-4 overall and ranked No. 15 in the final AVCA Top 25 Coaches’ Poll. That list includes senior setter Casey Cepicky (St. Louis, Missouri) and senior libero Callie Gubera (Thorntown, Indiana), both of whom are returning for their fifth year of eligibility due to NCAA COVID-19 rules. Middle blocker Sidney Hegg (Menasha, Wisconsin) rounds out this year’s senior class.
• USI brings back four All-GLVC honorees. Included in that list of returning players is four All-GLVC honorees. Sophomore outside hitter Leah Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois) earned first-team honors last spring, while Cepicky, junior middle hitter Taylor Litteken (Foristell, Missouri) and sophomore right side hitter Katherine Koch (Belleville, Illinois) were all named to the second team.
• Anderson, Gubera were recognized nationally. Anderson and Gubera were both named AVCA Division II Player of the Week last spring. It marked the third and fourth times in program history that USI has had a volleyball player recognized with the AVCA’s National Player of the Week award and the first time USI has had two players in the award in the same season.
• Cepicky climbing the record books. Cepicky enters her final year at USI ranked No. 4 all-time with 2,974 career assists after finishing 2020-21 with 9.36 assists and 2.86 digs per set. She also is just 95 digs away from becoming the 12th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-dig plateau and is 95 digs and 26 assists away from becoming the first player in program history with 3,000 assists and 1,000 digs.
• Roster maintenance. While Cepicky and Gubera are coming back for their fifth years in a USI uniform, all of USI’s players from its 2020-21 roster maintained their same eligibility as last season on this year’s roster with the exception of Hegg. The Eagles welcomed five new players to their roster this year, including freshman transfer Lauren O’Neill (Covington, Indiana) and true freshmen Paris Downing (Avon, Indiana), Anna Ballengee(Montgomery, Indiana), Evie Duncan (Evansville, Indiana) and Carly Sobieralski (Indianapolis, Indiana). Freshmen outside hitters Abby Weber(Fishers, Indiana), Abby Bednar (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) and Taya Dazey (Fort Wayne, Indiana) all contributed to the Eagles in 2020-21.
