MACOMB, Ill. - The Fighting Leatherneck volleyball team heads to Terre Haute, Indiana, for its final tournament of the nonconference schedule this Friday and Saturday (Sept. 18-19) as the Leathernecks head to the ISU Classic. Western opens play on Friday with a 6 p.m. (CT) match against the tournament hosts, Indiana State. Saturday's slate of matches features a 9 a.m. match against Valparaiso and a 3:30 p.m. contest against Chicago State. The Friday match between the Leathernecks and Sycamores will be available to a national audience via ESPN3.

LAST TIME OUT: Western Illinois picked up its second consecutive victory of the season with a thrilling  3-2 victory over Drake on Tuesday, September 15, in Des Moines, Iowa. Western picked up victories in the first and third sets (25-23, 25-12), while dropping the second and  fourth sets. In the fifth and  final set, Western outlasted the Bulldogs by a final of 15-13. Peyton Crosser picked up a career-high 23 digs while leading the team with 13 kills. Lexi Kolschefski tallied 12 digs, Abby Skyd notched 42 assists, and Kate Hickey had six aces in the match.

SERIES HISTORIES: Western Illinois and Indiana State have met 26 times previously, with Western leading the series, 15-11. The Leathernecks have taken the last two meetings, including a 3-2 decision over the Sycamores in Terre Haute on September 2, 2012. Valparaiso holds a 27-7 lead over WIU in the all-time series. The two schools have not met since 2006, a year in which they met three times. The Leathernecks collected a 3-2 victory against the Crusaders to open up the head-to-head series in 2006. WIU and Chicago State have each other a total of 40 times with Western dominating the series, 36-4, including victories in the last 18 meetings. Chicago State is looking for its first victory in 2015, as the Cougars enter ISU Classic play at 0-10. Elli Woinowsky (87 kills), Corey Davis (236 assists), and Shontanae Addison (115 digs) are players  to look out for under first-year head coach Brandon Reeves.

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS: Indiana State, winners its last time out, enter the weekend with a 8-4 record. The Sycamores will look to utilize Bree Spangler on the attack, as her 137 kills pace the attack. The offense  is run through Erika Nord and her team-best 473 assists. ISU features a balanced back line highlighted by Steph Bindemagel's 158 digs. Traci Dahl-Skinner is in her eighth season at the helm of the Sycamore program. Valparaiso sits at 10-1 on the year and have a 30-7 advantage in sets won this season. Emily Campbell serves as the top  offensive threat, registering 3.87 kills per set. Kelsey Berrington has notched 311 assists and Morganne Longoria anchors the defense with 144 digs on the year. Long-time head coach Carin Avery leads the Crusaders in 2015, her 16th season as the head coach.

CAREER YEARS: Seniors Jordan Jackson and Peyton Crosser have saved their best volleyball for their final season in the Purple and Gold. In Western's 3-1 victory over Jackson State, Jackson tallied 18 kills, a career-high for the Annawan, Illinois, native. Crosser, in her second year at Western Illinois, recorded a career-best 23 digs in a five-set victory at Drake. Earlier in the year, Crosser tallied a career-high in solo blocks (2) and total blocks (8), in Western's contest against  DePaul.

ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS: Junior Kaili Simmons made the most of her Western Illinois debut at the 2015 Hampton Inn Leatherneck Invitational. The transfer from Missouri State-West Plains was named to the All-Tournament Team following a weekend in which she led the team in digs (42) and aces (5). The captain followed that performance with her second-career 'All-Tournament' from the Evansville Tournament. For the Weekend, Simmons tallied  43 digs, including 18 in Western's victory over Jackson State. Freshman Sierra Bauder claimed her first collegiate accolade at the Kansas Invitional as she was named to the All-Tournament Team. On the Weekend, Bauder collected 11 kills and eight blocks, with two of the opponents receiving votes in the latest polls. Jordan Jackson collected 'All-Tournament' honors from the Evansville Tournament as she helped guide Western to its first victory of 2015. In the win over Jackson State, Jackson tallied a career high 18 kills and season highs in aces (2) and blocks (7). Jackson ended the weekend with 34 kills over three matches.