The University of Southern Indiana volleyball team travels west for its final pair of regular-season Great Lakes Valley Conference matches this weekend, facing-off with Quincy University and Truman State University Friday night and Saturday afternoon, respectively.
The Screaming Eagles (15-13, 7-6 GLVC) are currently on the third-longest active winning streak in the GLVC, which has pushed USI into a tie at the seventh spot in the league standings. The Eagles’ head-to-head victories over the University of Illinois Springfield and the Missouri University of Science and Technology are the advantage in that three-team pile-up on the GLVC Tournament bubble.
Coverage of both matches can be found at GoUSIEagles.com. Live-streaming of the events will be hosted on the GLVC Sports Network (GLVCSN); updates during the match will be available by following @USIAthletics on Twitter.
How We Got Here
Senior middle blocker Amanda Jung has set and reset her career-high in blocks during this streak, coming one shy of tying USI’s record for blocks in a match since 2000 with 10 against Missouri S&T. The Belleville, Illinois-native is averaging 1.81 blocks per set during this stretch, and sits seventh in the GLVC with 1.08 blocks per set for the season.
Junior setter Casey Cepicky and freshman libero Audrey Crowder earned USI’s first GLVC Player of the Week awards since the 2015 season and the first sweep of the award for USI since the award’s inception with their performances in the first two matches of this run. Cepicky has posted at least 35 assists in all four matches, while Crowder leads USI with a 4.56 digs per set clip. Cepicky has reached sixth all-time in career assists during this stretch.
Freshman outside hitter Leah Anderson has eclipsed the 300-mark in kills this season, the only freshman in the last decade to do so, and is currently 10th in the GLVC in points per set (3.76). She has averaged 3.56 kills per set over the past two weeks, including tying her season-high of 19 kills in the win over Maryville University. The Bloomington, Illinois-native has also aided Crowder on the back line with 3.69 digs per set, collecting three double-doubles since the streak began.
Scouting Report
at Quincy University; Friday, 7 p.m.
The Hawks (14-16, 6-7 GLVC) enter the weekend tied with McKendree University for the 10th spot in the conference standings, just one game back of the tie at seventh after winning three of their last four matches.
USI holds a decisive 27-14 lead in the all-time series with the Hawks while having won the last two meetings, and nine of the last 11 since the 2008 campaign.
at Truman State University; Saturday, 3 p.m.
The Bulldogs (12-17, 5-8 GLVC) will do battle with McKendree Friday night before hosting the Eagles Saturday afternoon. Truman enters the weekend sitting 12th in league play, two games back of the tie at seventh.
Truman leads the series with USI 10-2 since the first matchup in 2001. The Eagles’ lone victory in Kirksville to date came in a four-setter in 2013 against a nationally-ranked No. 20 Bulldogs squad.
