KEVIN JENISON

GoSycamores.com

TERRE HAUTE, IND. ? The Sycamore volleyball team will finally open their home season after going 3-1 through the first four games, all on the road. Indiana State will host the ISU/Drury Inn Classic on Friday and Saturday and remain at home to host Valparaiso on Tuesday.

“For this weekend we are looking to build off of the success we have had the past week,” Traci Dahl, Indiana State women's volleyball coach said. “We have worked on fine tuning multiple parts of our game this past week in practice. I am looking forward to seeing them put everything together on our home court in front of our home crowd.”

The tournament will be played in the ISU Arena, which has recently been renovated with the addition of air conditioning that has made both playing conditions and watching the volleyball games much more comfortable. The Sycamores also have a new sport court that will get its first taste of competitive action this weekend.

Indiana State (3-1) will play SIU Edwardsville (1-2) at 7 p.m. (ET) Friday, Western Carolina (2-1) at 1 p.m. (ET) Saturday, and Montana State (3-1) at 7 p.m. (ET) Saturday in tournament action. Indiana State will cap the four-game home-stand with a game at 7 p.m. (ET) Tuesday against Valparaiso (3-1).

The ISU Drury Inn Classic begins at 4 p.m. (ET) on Friday with Montana State (3-1) taking on Western Carolina (2-1) followed by Indiana State and SIU Edwardsville at 7 p.m. (ET). Four games are on tap for Saturday with SIU Edwardsville going up against Montana State at 10 a.m. (ET), Indiana State meeting Western Carolina at 1 p.m. (ET), SIU Edwardsville and Western Carolina playing at 4:30 p.m. (ET), and Indiana State wrapping up tournament play against Montana State at 7 p.m. (ET).

The Sycamores are coming off a 3-1 victory over the IUPUI Jaguars in The Jungle on the campus of IUPUI in Indianapolis on Tuesday. Indiana State rallied several times in the opening two sets, coming from seven back to win the opening set 25-20 and rallying to take the second set 25-22. ISU lost its momentum in the third set, falling 20-25, but took control again in the fourth set to win 25-19 and take the game 3-1.

Sophomore Morgan Dall posted her second double-double of the season with 13 kills and 17 digs while Loni Mackinson had her first career double-double with 27 assists and 12 digs.

Indiana State won two of their three games at the SIUE Cougar Classic, defeating host SIUE 3-1 last Friday, losing to Ball State 3-0 Saturday morning, and coming back to sweep The Citadel 3-0 Saturday afternoon. Junior middle blocker Stacy Qualizza and sophomore outside hitter Morgan Dall were named to the All-Tournament team.

The Sycamores opened the tournament with a 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 25-15, 25-23) victory over the host SIU Edwardsville Cougars as sophomore Morgan Dall recorded a career high 22 kills in 61 attempts for a .279 hitting percentage. It was the first season opening win for Indiana State since 2003. Junior Shelbi Fouty had 28 assists while junior Kiya James had 19 digs and junior Stacy Qualizza five blocks.

ISU dropped their first game of the season late Saturday morning as Ball State turned back the Sycamores by a 3-0 score (15-25, 22-25, 18-25). Dall had 11 kills, Fouty 17 assists, James 10 digs, and Qualizza five blocks as Indiana State lost for the 14th straight time to the Cardinals.

Indiana State came back with a sweep of their own, rolling past The Citadel 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 26-24) Saturday evening. Sophomore Auriel Armstrong had a career high 11 kills in the game with freshman Loni Mackinson lead in assists with 19 while Fouty had 13 digs. Mackinson and Armstrong had four blocks each in the game.

Scouting SIU Edwardsville

SIU Edwardsville (1-2) hosted the Cougar Classic last weekend, losing to the Indiana State Sycamores 3-1, defeating The Citadel 3-0, and then losing to Ball State 3-0. Freshman outside hitter Julia Whitfield led the team with 30 kills (3.00 kills per set) while sophomore setter Sammi Minton had 109 assists (10.90 per set), and senior outside hitter Karie Downing had 44 digs (4.40 per set).

This will be the second time this season that Indiana State and SIUE have met and the fourth time in the series history with the Sycamores winning all three previous encounters. The Sycamores won 3-2 (19-25, 25-20, 15-25, 25-17, 15-5) in the final game of the ISU Best Western Classic a year ago in the ISU Arena.

Scouting Western Carolina

The Western Carolina Catamounts (2-1) opened their season by hosting the VB Rags Western Carolina Invitational, defeating Coppin State 3-0 and Eastern Kentucky 3-2 in their first two games before falling 3-0 to North Carolina State in the final game of the tournament. Senior outside hitter Paloma Alvarez had 32 kills (2.91 per set) to lead the team while sophomore outside hitter Amanda Chaparro had 28 kills (2.55 per set). Freshman setter Kelcie Randazzo had 58 assists (5.27 per set), and freshman Morgan Cochran had 61 digs (5.55 per set).

This is the first meeting between the two schools.

Scouting Montana State

The Montana State Bobcats (3-1) participated in the Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational last weekend, winning their first three games over Radford 3-1, Robert Morris 3-2, and Morgan State 3-0 before falling to Duquesne 3-0. Junior Rachelle Allen led the team with 49 kills (3.27 per set) while sophomore Taylar Barney had 37 kills (2.47 per set). Freshman Mackenzi Campbell had 138 assists (9.20 per set) with senior Meghan Albsiton leading in digs with 68 (4.53 per set).

This will be the third meeting between the two schools with both schools winning on the home court. Montana State posted a 3-0 win in 2001 with the Sycamores winning in 2002 with a 3-2 triumph.

Scouting Valparaiso

The Valparaiso Crusaders (3-1) are competing in the Appalachian Invitational in Boone, N.C. this weekend where they will play USC Upstate (1-2) at 4:30 p.m. (ET) Friday, Eastern Kentucky (1-2) at 10 a.m. (ET) Saturday, and Appalachian State (4-0) at 7 p.m. (ET) Saturday. The Crusaders won the LaSalle Invitational last weekend by defeating LaSalle, Hartford, and Niagara. Valparaiso lost their season opener to Virginia.

The Sycamores will face Appalachian State in the Akron Invitational which will be held Sept. 10-11 in Akron, Ohio.