MATCH NOTES
MACOMB - After stepping out of conference play against Eastern Illinois Monday night, the Western Illinois volleyball team concludes its season-long five-match homestand at 7 p.m. Friday night by welcoming Summit League foe IUPUI to Brophy Hall.
The Fighting Leathernecks (5-7, 2-2 Summit League) enter the match looking to pick up their third win on the homestand and snap a four-match losing skid to IUPUI. Western fell 2-3 to Eastern Illinois Monday night in front of a school record 1,024 fans at Western Hall.
Alumni Day will be celebrated on Friday and a hospitality area will be set up at the match.Â
Coverage
Online: Live Stats will be available at GoLeathernecks.com by accessing the live stats link on the volleyball schedule page.
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 call the match. WIUS radio broadcasts are streamed live online here.
TV: The match is scheduled to air on WIUTV3 via tape delay. The broadcast will be a single-camera production.
Series History
IUPUI owns a 16-9 advantage in the all-time series between the schools and has won four straight matchups. The Jaguars came back from a 2-1 deficit and captured a 3-2 road victory the last time the programs met, Nov. 14, 2009 on Senior Night in Macomb.
Leading the Leathernecks
Monday's match was the second time this season that the Leathernecks had four players with double-digit kills (Aug. 28 vs. USC-Upstate). Left side hitters Brooke Stittleburg and Allison Gilbert both had 14 kills Monday night to lead the Western Illinois offensive attack once again. The two juniors have posted a combined .249 attack percentage and 6.40 kills per set over the last four matches.
Stittleburg and Gilbert have been freshman setter Heather Smith's favorite targets lately as the pair has received 48% of Smith's sets on the homestand. Smith, who ranks fourth in the Summit League with 9.51 assists per set, had 43 assists Monday to collect her fourth 40-plus assist performance of the season.
Stittleburg was also strong defensively as she posted 16 digs for her second double-double this season. Stittleburg, who has led the Leathernecks in kills for four consecutive matches, has posted a team-high .346 attack percentage and 3.60 kills per set on the homestand.
Gilbert collected her 10th double-digit kills performance of the season Monday and raised her team-leading season total to 143 kills. The 6-2 junior, who ranks fifth in the Summit League with 3.18 kills per set, needs just two kills Friday to reach the 500-career kills milestone.
Middle hitters Katie Hosteng (10 kills) and Cait Egan (12 kills) were both in double-digits for the third time this season Monday and the first time since the USC-Upstate match. Hosteng recorded her second double-digit performance over the last three matches and Egan posted a team-high .333 attack percentage. The pair also contributed 3.5 of Western's eight total blocks on the night. Egan (.266) and Hosteng (.257) are seventh and eighth, respectively, in the Summit League's attack percentage rankings and Egan is second in the conference with 1.09 blocks per set.
Sophomore Bridget Murphy and senior Ellen Miller had 18 and 17 digs, respectively, Monday night. Murphy, who owns a team-high 2.93 digs per set, has led the Leathernecks in digs five times this season. Miller is second on the squad with 2.78 digs per set and needs just 90 digs to crack the program's top-10 career digs list.
Scouting IUPUI
IUPUI (2-12, 1-3 Summit League) enters Friday's match on a three match losing streak. The Jaguars dropped two home matches to Oakland and IPFW over the weekend and got swept by Butler on the road Tuesday night. Head coach Steve Payne, who is in his 14th season at the helm of the IUPUI program, spent two years as an assistant coach at Western Illinois from 1995-96. Payne also served as an athletic academic advisor while at Western.
IUPUI was tabbed to finish sixth in the preseason Summit League poll after going 20-10 overall and 12-6 in conference play in 2009. The Jaguars, who lost to IPFW in the first round of the 2009 Summit League tournament, return two starters from last season and welcome five newcomers. Â
Sophomore outside hitter Lindsay Weber ranks eighth in the Summit League with a team-high 2.95 kills per set and junior Kalyse Reimbold is second on the squad with 2.65 kills per set. Freshman setter Alexis Meeks (8.96 assists per set) is directly behind Heather Smith in the Summit League assists rankings and junior libero Shari Bernhardt ranks second in the conference with 5.34 digs per set.
Match Promotions
Tonight's match is part of a 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 select dates near the end of the season.
