Courtesy: Missouri Valley Conference
2018 MVC VOLLEYBALL Championship
Hammons Student Center ■ Springfield, Mo.
Thursday, November 22
No. 3 Bradley vs. No. 6 Drake…………….. DU, 3-2
No. 4 Valpo vs. No. 5 Missouri St… VALPO, 3-2
Friday, November 23
No. 2 Illinois State vs. No. 6 Drake…… ILS, 3-0
No. 1 UNI vs. No. 4 Valparaiso………… UNI, 3-1
Saturday, November 24
No. 2 Illinois State vs. No. 1 UNI
Championship Game 5 PM
MVC Volleyball Tournament Title Match Notes
No. 1 UNI Vs. No. 2 Illinois State
- Illinois State and UNI boast the top two winning percentages in MVC Tournament title matches…Illinois State is 10-4 (.714), while UNI is 16-7 (.696). They are the only two teams in MVC Tournament history to have a winning record in championship matches.
- UNI’s 24th MVC Tournament title match appearance, while Illinois State is making its 15th title match appearance
- UNI is 21-0 as a No. 1 seed in the six team MVC Tournament format (began in 1995)
- UNI has an MVC-best 16 MVC Tournament titles (Last title was a three-straight string from 2009-11), while Illinois State has the second-most titles with 10 (Last title was a 3-1 win over UNI in 2014)
- UNI has seven MVC Tournament runner-up finishes – last runner-up finish was last year vs. Missouri State
Illinois State has four MVC runner-up finishes – last runner-up finish in 2007 to UNI in Springfield. - UNI has the most MVC Tournament wins of any league school – 45
- Illinois State has the second most MVC Tournament wins with 40
- Panthers are 12-3 against Illinois State in the MVC Tournament
- UNI is 4-3 against Illinois State in the MVC Tournament title match…UNI won in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2007; Illinois State won 1989, 1997 and 2014 titles.
- UNI is 3-1 in MVC Tournament championship matches in Springfield (Won 1991 title vs. Wichita State, 2003 title vs. Missouri State and 2007 title vs. Illinois State; Lost 1993 title Missouri State)
- Illinois State is 2-1 in MVC Tournament championship in Springfield (Won 1984 title vs. Missouri State and 1996 title vs. Drake; Lost 2007 to UNI)
- ISU’s Courtney Pence currently ranks fifth (2,730) all-time in NCAA Division I volleyball history in the career dig category. She needs just 23 digs to jump into fourth all-time, passing Valparaiso’s Taylor Root (2009-12). If she does so, she will become the highest-ranking player who played her entire career in the 25-point era.
No. 1 Seeds
- The No. 1 seed is 40-5 (.889) all-time in the MVC Tournament
- The No. 1 seed has won eight of the last nine MVC Tournament crowns (Wichita State won as 2 seed in 2016).
- The No. 1 seed is 18-3 (.857) all-time in the MVC Tournament title match with the three losses coming in 2003 (Missouri State), 2005 (Wichita State) and 2016 (Missouri State)
No. 2 Seeds
- The No. 2 seed is 18-19 (.486) all-time in the MVC Tournament
- The No. 2 seed is 4-9 (.308) all-time in the MVC Tournament title match with the wins in 2003 (UNI over Missouri State), 2005 (Missouri State over Wichita State), 2007 (UNI over Illinois State) and 2016 (Wichita State over Missouri State)
Top Two Seeds in Finals
The top two seeds have both advanced to the finals five times since 2002 (2003, 2005, 2014, 2016, 2017), including three of the last four seasons, with the top seed beating the second seed in the final in 2014 (ILS over UNI) and 2017 (MSU over UNI).
Finalists Advance to NCAA Tournament
- The MVC has earned 30 NCAA Tournament bids in the past 11 seasons.
- Except for in 2013 and 2014, every team to reach the MVC Tournament final has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in that time span.
Top of the Class
The Valley has placed multiple teams in the NCAA Tournament 10 times in the last 12 years. Since 2007, The Valley has received 30 bids into the 64-team field, trailing only the Pac 12, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC & West Coast Conferences.
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