Shocks at Missouri State (Sat) and at SIU (Mon)

[1972Shocker]

Two big road matches on the horizon for the Lady Shocks (18-6, 9-1).

First up are the Missouri State Bears (15-8, 6-4) in Springfield Saturday at 7:00p. The Lady Bears looked like the class of the Valley when they handed the Shocks a 3-1 loss at Koch Arena on October 2nd to start conference play at 3-0. However, since that time the league-leading Shocks have run off 7 consecutive wins while the Bears have lost 4 of 7 matches (against an identical schedule) to drop into 6th place.

Not sure what has happened to the Bears during that stretch (perhaps just the depth of the Valley this year) but they no doubt will be very focused and determined to take it out on the Shocks. I don't think MSU is at risk of missing the Valley Tournament (which is in Springfield) but they will pretty much have to run the table to have a shot at a regular season title and perhaps an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Shocks then travel to Carbondale to take on SIU (16-7, 7-3) on Monday at 7:00p. The Salukis are currently in a 2nd place tie with Loyola 2 games behind the Shocks. In the meantime, SIU is playing at Loyola tonight. On Saturday Loyola hosts Evansville and SIU plays at Bradley which should be relatively easy wins for them.

I suppose the ideal result for the Shocks would be for SIU to beat Loyola and then lose to the Shocks. That would guarantee that the Shocks would maintain their 2 game cushion even if they do lose at Missouri State and would extend their cushion to 3 games if they beat Missouri State.

Both the MSU and SIU matches will be on ESPN3. I expect both of these matches will be very tough ones.

http://www.goshockers.com/news/2015/10/28/VB_1028152611.aspx

[JayJ79]

The Lady Bears looked like the class of the Valley when they handed the Shocks a 3-1 loss at Koch Arena on October 2nd to start conference play at 3-0. However, since that time the league-leading Shocks have run off 7 consecutive wins while the Bears have lost 4 of 7 matches (against an identical schedule) to drop into 6th place.

not quite identical schedules. On October 5th, WSU played at Evansville while MSU played at SIU, which meant that the Bears' schedule was a bit tougher than that of the Shockers.

But other than that, the schedules have been the same (other than order), and WSU has certainly faired better.

[1972Shocker]

not quite identical schedules. On October 5th, WSU played at Evansville while MSU played at SIU, which meant that the Bears' schedule was a bit tougher than that of the Shockers.

But other than that, the schedules have been the same (other than order), and WSU has certainly faired better.

Good catch. The other key match this weekend is Illinois State at UNI. All 9 matches this weekend will be on ESPN3.

[WuDrWu]

I'm interested in the Loyola SIU match tonight as well.

The other 4 matches tomorrow should be straight forward, then the WSU MSU match.

[1972Shocker]

I'm interested in the Loyola SIU match tonight as well.

Yes indeed as I discussed in my thread opening post.

UNI beat Illinois State 3-1 in Cedar Falls. ILS had a very good chance to push the match into a 5th set but UNI rallied late to win 25-23 in the 4th and deciding set.

SIU and LUC going to a 5th set in Chicago.

[The Mad Hatter]

SIU just won the fourth set to send it to a fifth with Loyola.

[flyingMoose]

In one of the more important matches of the evening (just not to us), Bradley beat Evansville 3-2 and 15-13 in the fifth. This was the Braves' best chance for a conference win, and they came through at home against the ninth place Purple Aces.

Also, Drake beat Indiana State 3-1.

[flyingMoose]

Southern Illinois wins the fifth set over Loyola by a score of 19-17. They are now the only team of the pursuers with three losses. Others have four or more.

[1972Shocker]

Southern Illinois wins the fifth set over Loyola by a score of 19-17. They are now the only team of the pursuers with three losses. Others have four or more.

SIU had a 9-4 lead in Set 5 but gave it all back and trailed 12-13. LUC served for the match at 15-14, 16-15 and 17-16 but could not get it done with SIU socring the final 3 points of the match.

Now it is up to the Shockers to take advantage of an opportunity to create some real separation from the pack.

[JayJ79]

Southern Illinois wins the fifth set over Loyola by a score of 19-17. They are now the only team of the pursuers with three losses. Others have four or more.

and thanks to the new quirky scheduling in the MVC this year, the Shockers and the Salukis have yet to face off, with both matches coming in the next three weeks and SIU getting hot after some key players are coming back after early season injuries.

Could still be an interesting race in the Valley, and in any case, the conference tournament should be exciting.

[WuDrWu]

I'd love to see an exciting tournament in Springfield filled with plenty of fingernail chewing 5 set matches.........

As long as WSU wins tomorrow and Monday and ends the regular season race.

[1972Shocker]

In the other Valley matches on Friday which involved the bottom 4 teams in the league 7th place Drake picked up a 3-1 home win over 8th place Indiana State and 10th place Bradley picked up their 1st Valley win of the year with a 5-set home win over 9th place Evansville.

All 4 of those teams will most likely add a loss to the right side of the ledger in tonight's matches.

The WSU - MSU match tonight is clearly the key match tonight.

[flyingMoose]

Trick or treaters. World Series. Stats-Mike-ESPN3. Yeah, this is gonna work.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks very solid in Set 1 taking it by a 25-14 score.

[flyingMoose]

Set One

Missouri State 14-25 Shockers

The Shocks grabbed control of this one early and were never threatened. They hit . 351 to .032. Katie had five kills, and Abbie and Mikaela had three. We saw the 6-2 in this one.