WICHITA, Kan. - No. 2 seed Wichita State opens play in the 2016 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in the semifinals vs. the winner of No. 3 Northern Iowa and No. 6 Loyola at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

MVC TOURNAMENT

Cedar Falls, Iowa

McLeod Center

Game Notes

MATCH 30 - Semifinals

#2 WSU (22-7, 15-3) vs. UNI/Loyola

Nov. 25

7:30 P.M. CT

The Valley on ESPN3

MVC-Sports.com

SOCIAL

@GoShockersVB | #watchus

@goshockers | #watchus

Go Shockers

MVC STANDINGS

1. Missouri State (25-7, 16-2)

2. Wichita State (22-7, 15-3)

3. Northern Iowa (23-8, 14-4)

4. Southern Illinois (21-11, 12-6)

5. Illinois State (16-14, 9-9)

6. Loyola (14-17, 9-9)

7. Drake (17-15, 8-10)

8. Indiana State (10-20, 4-14)

9. Bradley (7-22, 2-16)

10. Evansville (5-26, 1-17)

Quick Hits
• WSU has won three tournament titles and those were in 2004, 2013 and 2015
• The Shockers have won six MVC regular season championships (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2013 and 2015)
• The Shockers have played in the championship match eight times
• WSU is making its 21st MVC Tournament appearance and 15th straight
• The Shockers will be looking to make their 10th NCAA Tournament appearance
• WSU is 3-5 all-time vs. UNI in the conference tournament and 0-0 against Loyola
• WSU has finished in the top-three in the MVC standings for the last 14 years
• Five Shockers earned MVC Scholar-Athlete honors including Abbie Lehman, Mikaela Raudsepp, Katy Dudzinski, Emily Hiebert and Dani Mostrom
• WSU is 4-6 against the RPI top-50 and 7-7 against the top-100
• WSU is listed at 35 in the latest NCAA RPI with UNI at 44 and Loyola at 159
• Tabitha Brown is the MVC Player of the Week this week
• WSU is ranked seventh nationally in hitting percentage, 10th in assists per set and 10th in kills per set
• Abbie Lehman is ranked 13th nationally in hitting percentage, while Emily Hiebert is ranked 49th in assists per set
• Hiebert collected her 3,000th career assist on Sept. 26 against Evansville
• The Shockers are 18-2 in three-set matches, 2-4 in four-set matches and 2-1 in five-set matches this season
• WSU is ranked 12th in the nation in attendance (2,264 average) and had a season-high crowd of 3,122 Oct. 28 against UNI at Charles Koch Arena
• Wichita State is 8-2 in the last 10 matches

On the Web
Wichita State's matches will be on the Internet at www.goshockers.com/listen with Chris Solwecki calling the action. They will also be on The Valley on ESPN3 Greg Halbleib and Linda Dollar.

Shockers No. 2 Seed in MVC Tourney
UNI will host the 2016 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Nov. 24-26. Wichita State earned the No. 2 seed, while Missouri State is No. 1, UNI is No. 3, Southern Illinois is No. 4, Illinois State No. 5, and Loyola No. 6.

Shockers Play UNI or LUC in Semifinals
he Shockers will face the winner of No. 3-seed UNI and No. 6-seed Loyola in the tournament semifinals at 7:34 p.m. Nov. 25. UNI and Loyola play at 7:34 p.m. on Thurs., Nov. 24 in the quarterfinals.

Series History vs. Tourney Field
The Shockers are 7-3 against the tourney field in 2016. WSU's overall record against the tourney field is listed below:
Missouri State - 30-45 overall & 7-5 in the tourney
UNI - 16-53-1 overall & 3-5 in the tourney
Southern Illinois - 41-21 overall & 3-0 in the tourney
Illinois State - 32-34 overall & 2-3 in the tourney
Loyola - 8-0 overall & 0-0 in the tourney

WSU's Conference Tourney History
WSU enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed. This will be the Shockers' 21st tournament appearance and 15th-straight, which is a school record. WSU's all-time conference tournament record stands at 19-17 overall and 3-5 in the championship match.

Selection Show on Nov. 27
The winner of the MVC Tournament earns an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The tournament selection show will take place on Sun., Nov. 27 at 8 p.m. Central time on ESPNU.
 
Scouting UNI
The Panthers are 23-8 overall and finished in third place in the Missouri Valley Conference. Wins this season have come against Miami (Ohio), Saint Louis, No. 23 Kentucky, Omaha, UMKC, Iowa State, Northwestern, Syracuse, North Dakota State, Evansville twice, Wichita State twice, Indiana State twice, Drake twice, Bradley twice, Loyola twice, Southern Illinois and Illinois State. Losses have come against Michigan, No. 22 Creighton, USC, No. 4 Kansas, Illinois State, Southern Illinois and Missouri State twice. As a team, they are hitting .226, while holding opponents to a .163 hitting percentage. They are led by Bri Weber who is averaging 3.22 kills per set, while Heather Hook averages 11.16 assists and Kendyl Sorge averages 5.14 digs per set. The Panthers are led by head coach Bobbi Petersen.

Series History vs. the Panthers
UNI leads the overall series with Wichita State 53-16-1. The Panthers also lead the series in Cedar Falls, Iowa 24-8. WSU head coach Chris Lamb is 15-26 in his career against UNI and 8-12 in Cedar Falls.

Last Meeting vs. UNI
The last meeting between the two teams was Oct. 28, 2016, in Wichita. The Panthers won 3-0 by scores of 26-24, 25-18 and 27-25. Jody Larson led the Shockers with 10 kills, while Emily Hiebert had 24 assists and Dani Mostrom had 17 digs.

Scouting Loyola
The Ramblers are 14-17 overall and finished in a tie for fifth place in the Missouri Valley Conference. Wins this season have come against College of Charleston, Davidson, Wake Forest, Mississippi State, Northern Kentucky, Indiana State, Evansville twice, Southern Illinois twice, Drake twice, and Bradley twice. Losses have come against DePaul, Iowa, Northern Illinois, Miami, Kansas State, Illinois-Chicago, Butler, Arizona, Illinois State twice, Wichita State twice, Missouri State twice, UNI twice, and Indiana State. As a team, they are hitting .199, while holding opponents to a .218 clip. They are led by Morgan Reardon who is averaging 3.55 kills per set, while Delilah Wolf averages 9.87 assists and Maddy Moser averages 4.59 digs per set. The Ramblers are led by head coach Chris Muscat.

Series History vs. the Ramblers
Wichita State leads the overall series with the Ramblers 8-0. WSU head coach Chris Lamb is 8-0 overall against the Ramblers. Last Meeting vs. LUC The last meeting between the two teams was Nov. 5, 2016, in Chicago. The Shockers won 3-0 by scores of 29-27, 25-21 and 25-15. Tabitha Brown and Abbie Lehman led the Shockers with 11 kills each, while Emily Hiebert had 24 assists and Dani Mostrom had 14 digs.

Last Time Out
WSU defeated Southern Illinois 3-0 on Friday night by scores of 25-15, 25-14 and 25-18. Tabitha Brown led the Shockers with nine kills, while Emily Hiebert had 30 assists and Dani Mostrom had 18 digs. WSU defeated Evansville 3-0 on Saturday night by scores of 25-16, 25-7 and 25-18. Brown led the Shockers with 16 kills, while Hiebert had 38 assists and Gabi Mostrom had 14 digs.

Brown Named MVC Player of the Week
Wichita State volleyball student-athlete Tabitha Brown has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 14-20. Brown, a sophomore outside hitter from Spring, Texas, led the Shockers to two road wins over the weekend. She averaged 4.17 kills, 1.50 digs, 0.17 blocks and 4.33 points per set, while hitting .392 on the left side. In the three-set win at Southern Illinois, she had a match-high nine kills along with one dig and one block. In the three-set win at Evansville, she had a match-high 16 kills on 29 swings and hit .483. She also added eight digs. It is her second-straight MVC Player of the Week honor.

Shockers in the RPI
Wichita State is 35th in the eighth official RPI release of the season. WSU is 4-6 against the top-50 and 7-7 against the top-100. Wins include Creighton (17), Marquette (35), Missouri State (47), Colorado State (43), Southern Illinois (57) and Texas State (83). Losses are against Texas (1), Cincinnati (34), Iowa State (30), Missouri State (47), UNI twice (45) and UTSA (69). 

Hiebert's Double-Doubles
Junior setter Emily Hiebert has double-doubles in 14 of 29 matches this season and owns 39 career double-doubles, which ranks her eighth in the Shocker record books.

Moving on Up
Senior libero Dani Mostrom and junior setter Emily Hiebert continue to climb the Shocker career records list for digs and assists. Mostrom is now second in career digs with 1,908 and needs 294 more to move into first place, while Hiebert is fifth in assists with 3,581 and needs 384 more to move into fourth place. Lehman is 10th in block assists with 313 and needs 10 more to move into ninth place.

20 Wins
The Wichita State volleyball team collected its 20th win of the season on Saturday against Indiana State. It is the 14th-straight 20-win season for the Shockers, all under Head Coach Chris Lamb. During the last 14 years, the Shockers are averaging 24.5 wins per season.

Career Night for Two Shockers
Sophomore outside hitter Tabitha Brown and junior outside hitter Mikaela Raudsepp both collected career-highs in kills on Friday against Illinois State. Brown collected 20 kills in the four-set match, which beat the 17 she had against Northern Illinois in 2015. Raudsepp had 19 kills in the four-set match, which beat the 18 she had against North Texas in 2014.

Team Effort
Wichita State hit a blistering .461 as a team on Oct. 10 against SIU. The Shockers had 49 kills on 89 swings with just eight errors. It was a season-best in hitting percentage for the Shockers and just missed the top-10 in hitting percentage at Koch Arena. The .461 ranks 11th in the record books for team hitting percentage at WSU's home venue. The record is .583, which WSU set against Drake in 2003.

Dudzinski Heating Up
Senior middle blocker Katy Dudzinski has heated up over her last 13 matches. She is averaging 2.09 kills per set and hitting .420. She had a career-high 12 kills at UTSA on Sept. 17 and had 11 kills on 13 swings and hit .846 against Southern Illinois on Oct. 10.

Seven Points
Wichita State held Evansville to seven points in the second set of the win on Sept. 26 in Wichita. That is tied for the second fewest points allowed by WSU in a set in the 25-point scoring era. It ties the seven that WSU gave up to Grambling State on Sept. 5, 2009. The record is four which WSU gave up to Evansville on Nov. 21, 2015.

Double-Digit Kills
Wichita State used a balanced offensive attack to earn a five-set road win at Missouri State on Sept. 23. The Shockers got double-digit kills from five players including 15 from Mikaela Raudsepp, 13 from Tabitha Brown, 11 from Katy Dudzinski and Abbie Lehman and 10 from Jody Larson. It was the first time the Shockers had five players in double-digit kills since Oct. 23, 2015 when they won in five sets at Illinois State. In that match, Larson had 19, Shimen Fayad had 14, Lehman and Raudsepp each had 12 and Katie Reilly had 11.

MVC Opener
Wichita State opened Missouri Valley Conference play on the road at Missouri State on Sept. 23. With the win, the Shockers are now 18-16 overall in conference openers and 12-5 under head coach Chris Lamb. The Shockers are also 17-16 in conference road openers and 12-5 under Lamb. It was the first time the Shockers opened MVC play on the road since 2012.

Hiebert and Lehman Named to All-Tourney Team
Junior setter Emily Hiebert and junior middle blocker Abbie Lehman both earned all-tournament team honors at the Roadrunners Roundup. In the three matches, Hiebert averaged 1.36 kills, 10.91 assists, 0.09 aces, 3.09 digs and 0.45 blocks per set while hitting .375. Lehman averaged 2.91 kills, 0.09 aces, 0.64 digs and 1.09 blocks per set while hitting .372.

Hiebert and Larson Earn All-Tourney Honors
Junior setter Emily Hiebert and senior outside hitter Jody Larson earned all-tournament team honors at the Rams Volleyball Classic. The tournament consisted of just the matches against Colorado State and Texas. In those two matches, Hiebert averaged 12.00 assists, 1.43 kills, 0.29 aces, 3.00 digs and 0.71 blocks per set, while hitting .471. Larson averaged 4.86 kills, 2.00 digs and 0.57 blocks per set, while hitting .354.

Hiebert Named MVP
Junior Emily Hiebert earned MVP honors at the Shocker Volleyball Classic, while senior Jody Larson and junior Mikaela Raudsepp were both named to the all-tournament team. Hiebert averaged 11.40 assists, 1.30 kills, 0.20 aces, 2.90 digs and 0.70 blocks per set in the three matches. Larson averaged 3.00 kills, 0.60 assists, 0.20 aces, 3.70 digs and 0.60 blocks per set, while Raudsepp averaged 2.80 kills, 0.40 digs and 0.30 blocks per set.

Raudsepp and Hiebert Named to All-Tournament Team
Juniors Mikaela Raudsepp and Emily Hiebert both earned all-tournament team honors at the Iowa State Challenge. Raudsepp, an outside hitter from Dundee, Ore., averaged 2.88 kills, 0.25 aces and 0.62 digs per set, while hitting .333 in the two matches. Hiebert, a setter from Newton, Kan., averaged 7.00 assists, 0.88 kills, 0.25 aces, and 2.50 digs per set, while hitting .353 in the two matches.

Family Connection
Sisters Dani Mostrom and Gabi Mostrom are the fifth set of sisters to play volleyball at Wichita State. They are only the second set to play together at WSU joining Marsha and Pam Olmsted who played together for the Shock­ers in 1976. The other Shocker sisters include: Valerie and Kim Wadsworth, Jessica and Taylor Keys and Angie and Michele Hallagin.

Sophomore Tabitha Brown, who transferred from Alabama, joins her brother Zach Brown at Wichita State. Zach is a junior on the men's basketball team.

International History
WSU welcomes freshman libero Giorgia Civita to the team in 2016. Civita is from Milan, Italy and is looking to become just the seventh international player to play for the Shockers. Others include Kim Henry (1989-92) from Canada, Swee Ng (1992) from Malaysia, Marsha Van Cedar (1994-95) from Canada, Tomoko Matsuda (1996) from Japan, Lucia Zhanje (2000) from Zimbabwe and Shimen Fayad (2014-15) from Canada. One other international player was on the roster in 1992, but never played in a match (Tamie Bearup, Italy).

Shockers Picked First in Preseason MVC Poll
The Wichita State volleyball team is picked first in the 2016 Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. The Shockers received seven first-place votes and 97 points in the poll. The Shockers return nine letterwinners and five starters from a team that went 27-9 overall and 15-3 in Missouri Valley Conference play in 2015. Last season, the Shockers won the MVC regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Television Schedule Announced
Nineteen Wichita State volleyball matches during the 2016 season will be televised on The Valley on ESPN3 – the league's co-branded digital network with ESPN. The regular-season live events will be produced and transmitted by production units on each of the league's campuses. Three of the Wichita State home matches will be produced by COX Channel Kansas and made available for ESPN3 clearance, but subject to blackout restrictions. The three matches that will be televised on COX are Sept. 26 against Evansville, Oct. 10 against Southern Illinois and Nov. 11 against Illinois State.

Lamb Returns for 17th Season
Head coach Chris Lamb, four-time MVC Coach of the Year, returns for his 17th season after guiding the Shockers to 13-straight 20-win seasons. In 2011, he became the winningest coach in Shocker volleyball history and in 2013 he won his 300th career match.

Valley Titles
WSU has won six out of the last 12 MVC regular-season titles. The Shockers collected titles in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2013 and 2015.