The University of Southern Indiana volleyball team returns to the Screaming Eagles Arena to kick off four-straight home Great Lakes Valley Conference matches, beginning with Lewis University and the University of Illinois Springfield this weekend.
The Screaming Eagles are back in Evansville with an 11-13 (3-6 GLVC) record to date, following a contentious five-set defeat at the University of Indianapolis and a three-set loss to Bellarmine University last Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Coverage of both matches can be found at GoUSIEagles.com, and will be live-streamed at glvcsn.com/usi.
USI News and Notes
Senior middle hitter Elexis Coleman joins junior setter Casey Cepicky on the climb up the USI all-time leaderboards in 2019. While Cepicky remains eighth in career assists (2,051), Coleman has worked her way to 15th with 250 career blocks with the potential to leap another three spots before the regular season concludes, based on her current 0.93 blocks-per-set pace.
Coleman also ranks among the best in the GLVC in attack percentage this season holding a .338 mark, good for fourth in that category. The Eagles rank fifth in blocks (181 – 2.15/set) and second in service aces (137 – 1.63/set) as a unit, with freshman outside hitter Leah Anderson appearing 10th in the individual category.
USI sits in a tie for 12th in the GLVC standings with six matches remaining in the 2019 season, though just two games back of Illinois Springfield and the Missouri University of Science and Technology sitting in a tie for the seventh spot.
Scouting Report
USI v. No. 8 Lewis – Friday, 7 p.m.
The nationally-ranked Flyers enter Friday’s match with a 21-3 (7-2 GLVC) record thus far and a five-match winning-streak in tow. Both of Lewis’ conference losses came on the same weekend trip USI is returning from, with almost identical results: a five-set, Friday-night loss in Indianapolis followed by a Saturday sweep at the hands of Bellarmine.
Lewis leads the all-time series with the Eagles, claiming 30 of 41 meetings. USI looks to snap a seven-match losing skid against the Flyers that dates back to the 2013 campaign. The Eagles last defeated a nationally-ranked Lewis team in 2011.
USI v. Illinois Springfield – Saturday, 3 p.m.
The Eagles match up with a familiar opponent in the Saturday afternoon match, as USI and the Prairie Stars battled in the Capital Classic as non-conference foes in September, when the host Illinois Springfield bested the Eagles in three sets.
The all-time series was narrowed to a 9-6 USI lead with the eary-season loss. The Eagles have gotten the better of UIS just once in the previous four meetings since the start of the 2016 season.
On The Horizon
USI will host Missouri S&T and Maryville University November 8 and 9 to conclude the regular-season home schedule, then wrap up the 2019 regular season at Quincy University and Truman State University the following weekend.
