Match Notes

MACOMB - After splitting a pair of Summit League matches over the weekend, the Western Illinois volleyball team steps out of conference play Tuesday night as the Fighting Leathernecks welcome Chicago State to Macomb for their home opener at Western Hall.

Western (3-5, 1-1 Summit League) opened its Summit League schedule by sweeping Centenary Friday and dropping a 3-0 decision at Oral Roberts Saturday. The Leathernecks will take on the Cougars, who are winless so far in 2010 (0-11).

"We are excited about coming home and playing in front of our fans," Western Illinois head coach Kym McKay said. "We are hoping to carry over the quality play we had this past weekend and start our home court season on a high note."

Coverage

Online: Live Stats will be available at GoLeathernecks.com by accessing the live stats link on the volleyball schedule page.

Subscribers to Rocky Vision at GoLeathernecks.com can watch wiutv3's live broadcast of the match. 

A live blog can be found at www.wiu.edu/SportsBroadcasting. Fans can follow along by selecting the Live Coverage Blogging link.

TV: The match will be broadcast live on wiutv3 (channel 3, Macomb) with John Kendall providing play-by-play and Dakota Horn as the color analyst.

Radio: All home matches during the 2010 season can be heard on WIUS (88.3 FM) radio. Michael Broskowski (play-by-play) and Nick Ficarrotta (color) will be calling the match Tuesday night.

Leading the Leathernecks

Western enters the match behind the strong play of outside hitter Allison Gilbert, who ranks third in the Summit League with 3.37 kills per set. The 6-2 junior owns a team-high 101 kills and has recorded double-digit kills in seven of eight matches this season.

Freshman Heather Smith took over as starting setter during the first weekend of the season and has started six consecutive matches. Smith ranks fourth in the Summit League with 9.44 assists per set and has recorded 43 digs, 10 kills, nine block assists and six service aces. 

Western's middle hitters have been strong early this season as Cait Egan and Katie Hosteng have combined for 4.37 kills per set, 1.71 blocks per set and a .283 attack percentage.

Scouting the Cougars

Chicago State, a member of the Great West Conference, is under the guidance of first year head coach Bob Eskew, who spent 22 seasons as head volleyball coach at Bloom Township High School in Chicago Heights, Ill. The Cougars dropped three matches over the weekend at the University of Michigan/adidas Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Junior Mazvita Maziveyi and freshman Valeria Desiderio lead the Cougar offensive attack with a combined 3.55 kills per set. Senior setter Hanya Minta averages 4.93 assists per set and freshman Mysta Townsell's 3.39 digs per set ranks first on the team.

Tuesday's matchup will mark the 33rd meeting between the two schools in a series that began in 1978. The Leathernecks and Cougars played each other twice a year from 1994 to 2008 and Western Illinois has won 10 straight in the series. The two squads are also scheduled to meet Nov. 1 in Chicago.

2010 Volleyball Promotion

The home opener marks the beginning of special season-long promotion for Western Illinois students. Students who attend home matches this season will receive a raffle ticket that will enter them in a sweepstakes to win a Blu-Ray Player or iPod Touch. The more raffle tickets collected, the better chance students have of winning the prizes.

The prizes will be given away on the following dates:

Blu-Ray Player - Oct. 30 vs. Centenary 7 p.m.

iPod Touch - Nov. 10 vs. SIU-Edwardsville 7 p.m.