Loyola (13-3 MVC), Bradley (12-5 MVC), Illinois State (12-5 MVC) and Valparaiso (10-6 MVC) have each secured a spot in the six-team MVC Volleyball Tournament which will be held at Illinois State November 25-27. Evansville (8-8 MVC) and Indiana State (8-8 MVC) currently occupy the final two spots in the tournament race with a week remaining during the regular season. UNI (7-9 MVC) is one game back of Evansville and Indiana State and trying to earn its record-extending 37th consecutive tournament berth.
The full MVC Volleyball Tournament bracket will be announced on Saturday night following the conclusion of regular season play.
Loyola Secures Share of Title
With Saturday’s victory over Illinois State, Loyola not only brought an end to a 12-match losing skid versus the Redbirds, but also secured at least a share of the Valley regular season title. This is the Ramblers’ first Valley title since joining the league in 2013 and their first conference regular season crown since taking home the Horizon League hardware in 2002. Loyola’s last win over Illinois State prior to Saturday came all the way back on October 9, 2015.
NCAA RPI Report
The latest edition of the NCAA RPI report (Nov. 15) has been released and the Valley has three teams featured in the top-100. Loyola Chicago leads the league at No. 57, while Valparaiso (No. 77) and Illinois State (No. 82) are also among the nation’s top-100. Five other teams rank in the Top 141 (Evansville, Bradley, Indiana State, Missouri State and UNI). The Valley ranks 8th as a league in RPI.
Team RPI
MVC 8
Loyola Chicago 57
Valparaiso 77
Illinois State 82
Bradley 108
Evansville 113
Indiana State 115
UNI 137
Missouri State 141
Drake 211
Southern Illinois 289
Valley Runs Deep
With eight teams currently sitting in the Top 141 of the NCAA RPI (Nov. 15), The Valley joins an elite list of conferences with eight or more teams sitting in the Top 141 entering this week. The Valley is among a list of only six conferences, joining the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12.
BU: Battling for Position
Bradley and Illinois State enter Friday’s contest at Redbird Arena tied for second in the MVC standings with the winner securing one of the top two seeds for next week’s Valley Tournament and first-round bye. The Braves, which have 12 conference wins for the second straight year, have finished as high as tie for second in the MVC once (1999) and have never earned a top-two seed for the conference championship. Bradley’s 12 league wins this year is tied for the fifth most conference wins in a season in school history. Posting 12 or more conference wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history, BU’s 24 combined Valley wins over the last two years are the most in the conference and no MVC squad has more league wins than Bradley’s 35 conference wins over the last three seasons.
DU: Tough Road
Drake played both Evansville and Indians State over the weekend. Maddie Holt recorded a career high 47 assists against Evansville. Lindsey Pliapol tallied 28 kills over the weekend.
UE: Finishing Strong
Alondra Vazquez had two of her top performances of the season as the Purple Aces completed the home portion of their schedule. Through the first 14 MVC matches, Vazquez averaged 3.53 kills while hitting .220. Her kill total was third on the team in league matches. That all changed over the weekend as she finished the matches against Drake and UNI averaging 5.50 kills per frame while hitting a solid .283. Her kill totals of 24 versus Drake and 31 against UNI were her top two totals of the conference season.
ILS: 1,000 Point Club
In Illinois State’s four-set win over Valparaiso this weekend, junior Sarah Kushner became the newest Redbird to join the 1,000-point club. Kushner finished with 15 points in the Redbirds’ win, reaching 1,013.5 points now in her Illinois State career after adding 11 against Loyola-Chicago.
INS: Winning Record Secured
Indiana State has put together one of its best seasons in some time currently with a 16-10 mark, securing a winning record for the first time since 2015 when the team finished 17-16. At 8-8 in MVC play and two matches remaining in the regular season, ISU is looking to finish over .500 in league play for the first time in program history. The best ISU has ever finished during MVC action was 9-9 in 2014.
LUC: Impressive Home Mark
The Ramblers had their quest for a perfect season at Gentile Arena crash to a halt with a five-set loss to the Braves on November 12, but Loyola bounced back the following night to collect a four-set victory over Illinois State. Loyola finished the 2021 campaign with a dazzling 11-1 record at Gentile Arena, the program’s fewest home losses in a single season since 2002 when it went 10-1 in the cozy confines of Alumni Gym.
Loyola is 17-0 this season when it wins the opening set and since the start of the 2020-21 campaign is 27-1 when taking the opener. The 3-1 win versus Illinois State over the weekend was just the Ramblers’ third this year when dropping the opening set.
MSU: Home Record Clinched
With a sweep of visiting Southern Illinois on Friday, the Bears improved to 7-3 this season on their home floor, securing a winning record at Hammons Student Center for the 23rd consecutive season.
UNI: Cardiac Cats
UNI has been down at least one match point in two of its wins this year (at Drake, at Evansville). This is the first Panther season with multiple victories in this category since 2001 (vs. Missouri State (MVC Championship), vs. Minnesota (NCAA Second Round)).
SIU: Senior Day
The Southern Illinois Salukis will close out the 2021 season with a pair of home matches next weekend, the later of which will serve as senior day for Southern’s two seniors, Katy Kluge and Bryleigh Buchanan. Kluge earlier this season became just the 12th Saluki to reach the 1,000 career dig plateau while Buchanan has come on strong as of late, as she has appeared in four of SIU’s last six matches, which includes a career-best five kills at Evansville on Nov. 1.
VU: Reaching 3,000
With the NCAA Division I record of 3,176 career digs likely out of reach, fifth-year libero Rylee Cookerly picked the perfect night to record perhaps the last milestone dig of her career on Saturday. Valpo’s Senior Night featured Cookerly’s 3,000th career dig early in the third set, the latest in a line of milestone digs she has registered this year. Cookerly is just the second player in D-I history to reach 3,000 career digs.
This week's Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Players of the Week are Illinois State's Tamara Otene, Loyola Chicago's Taylor Venuto and UNI's Kira Fallert.
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Tamara Otene, So., OH, Illinois State
Sophomore Tamara Otene’s career-best 27 kills accounted for nearly half of Illinois State’s 57 kills against Loyola-Chicago. Hitting an impressive .404, Otene was just one dig shy of her second-straight double-double with nine digs against the Ramblers. In the Redbirds’ win over Valparaiso, Otene posted a match-leading 18 kills and a career-best 17 digs, marking her fifth double-double of the season. Combining for 45 kills and 26 digs, Otene averaged 5.63 kills per set and 3.25 digs per set, while hitting .301 in the Redbirds’ two matches this weekend. With 18 kills against Valparaiso and 27 against Loyola-Chicago, Otene has posted 10+ kills in 25 of ISU’s 29 matches this season, including seven times with 20+ kills in a single match.
Other Notable Performances: Hannah Thompson (BU); Alondra Vazquez (UE); Karinna Gall (INS); Addie Barnes (LUC); Azyah Green (MSU); Kira Fallert (UNI); Haley Hart (VU)
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Taylor Venuto, Jr, MH, Loyola Chicago
In helping Loyola clinch at least a share of the MVC regular season title last weekend, giving the program its first conference crown since capturing the Horizon League championship in 2002, Venuto put up 1.78 blocks and 0.56 digs per set. The junior middle hitter also kicked in 1.78 kills and 0.22 aces per set as Loyola split matches with Bradley and Illinois State. The 2019 First Team All-MVC pick, who leads the MVC in hitting percentage (.353) and ranks second in the circuit in blocks (1.25), accounted for 10 kills, seven blocks, three digs and an ace against Bradley on November 12, then totaled six kills, nine blocks, two digs and an ace in Loyola’s first win over Illinois State since October 9, 2015. This season, Venuto is tallying 2.53 kills and 1.25 blocks per set, while hitting a league-best .353 (256-68-533).
Other Notable Performances: Serena Sparks (BU); Madeline Williams (INS); Kaity Weimerskirch (ILS); Azyah Green (MSU); Payton Ahrenstorff (UNI); Haley Hart (VU)
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK:
Kira Fallert, Fr., OH, UNI
Kira Fallert averaged 3.70 kills per set with .312 hitting and 1.80 digs per set last week featuring a record-setting performance at Evansville. Fallert had a career-high 25 kills and hit .524 Saturday for the highest termination total by any UNI freshman in the 25-point rally-scoring era. One night earlier, she secured a double-double with 12 kills and 13 digs at Indiana State.
Other Notable Performances: Kaylenn Hunt (BU); Giulia Cardona (UE); Storm Suhre (INS); Lane Jenkins (LUC); Maddy Bushnell (MSU); Elise Swistek (VU)