honor after putting together the 11th and 12th 50-assist, 20-dig matches in school history, while Kaitlin Jaeger won her first freshman award after 17 kills on .355 hitting at CU. Home sweeps of Evansville and SIU followed, setting up the season’s final road trip to the ISUs with MVC seeding on the line. Jaeger hammered 15 kills on .636 hitting to defeat Indiana State 3-0 on Nov. 18, and Thomas did the rest at Illinois State, posting 10 kills, 48 assists and 18 digs for her first career triple-double. The win mirrored the conference-opener against the Redbirds with the Bears falling behind 2-0 and winning the fifth set by a 15-8 score.
Short Stay
at the
MVC Sends Three
to
NCAAs
For the sixth consecutive season, the MVC sent multiple squads to the NCAA Tournament with the Bears, UNI and Wichita State qualifying in 2011. The Bears had to wait until the final pairings were unveiled to find out they were headed to Malibu, Calif., for a date with 15th-seeded Pepperdine on the Waves’ home floor. Missouri State competed in the first two sets, losing 25-22 and 25-21 in what felt like a winnable match, before falling 25-16 in the third thanks to a 10-2 Pepperdine run to salt it away. UNI made the second round as the No. 6 overall seed, losing to Florida in Cedar Falls, while Wichita State bowed out against Kansas State in the first round. to the
Record Book
Kelley Michnowicz and Calli Norman continued to battle one another in career hitting percentage throughout the season, with Michnowicz gaining the upper hand to finish fourth in school history with a .2994 career mark. Norman finished sixth at .2987, just seven ten-thousandths behind. Norman also concluded her career ranked seventh in sets played (465), ninth in block assists (385), and 11th in kills (1,224) and total blocks (443). Thomas’ big season moved her to eighth in
State Farm MVC Tournament (at Cedar Falls, Iowa)
Quarterfinals
#3 Wichita State def. #6 Indiana State, 3-0 25-16, 25-15, 25-16 #5 Illinois State def. #4 Creighton, 3-1 25-23, 23-25, 25-16, 25-15
Semifinals
#3 Wichita State def. #2 Missouri State, 3-0 25-16, 25-23, 25-13 #1 UNI def. #5 Illinois State, 3-0 25-15, 25-12, 25-12
Championship
#1 UNI def. #3 Wichita State, 3-0 25-23, 29-27, 25-20
All-MVC Tournament Team
MVC Tournament
The Bears had the No. 2 seed in the MVC Tournament but ran into a hot Wichita State club in the semifinals, losing in three sets. Both clubs entered the match with RPIs in the low-to-mid 40s, and a win-and-in feeling in terms of NCAA Tournament inclusion loomed over both sides. Luckily for the Bears, their body of work for the entire season proved strong enough come Selection Sunday.
Changes
2011 MVC Post-Season Results
Bears Volleyball
Kelley Michnowicz was an All-American in 2010
school history with 2,086 career assists.
Plenty
of
Awards
to go
Around
Norman headlined the award winners by landing first-team all-MVC honors for the fourth consecutive season, becoming the third player in league history to do so. Thomas joined Norman on the first team and made the AVCA All-Central Region squad as an honorable mention choice to go along with a trio of MVC Player of the Week selections. Brand hauled in MSU’s second consecutive MVC Freshman of the Year award to go with three league freshman of the week selections, and was joined by Jaeger on the all-Freshman team. Jaeger added a pair of MVC weekly awards in November. Rivatto rounded out MSU’s all-conference selections with an MVC Second Team nod and an MVC Scholar-Athlete honorable mention nod. Mason hauled in a number of academic awards, beginning with a spot on the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team. She twice was named the league’s Prairie Farms ScholarAthlete of the Week, each time coinciding with an MVC Defensive Player of the Week award. Mason also earned a spot on the U.S. Women’s National A2 roster during the offseason.
Stokes Continues
to
Win
Melissa Stokes completed her 16th season at MSU with a 357-164 record. She ranks third all-time in victories among MVC coaches, and first in conference wins with 208. She has piloted the Bears to 13 consecutive 20win seasons, a streak longer than all but six other schools nationally.
Bre Payton, UNI (MVP) Emily Adney, Wichita State Karisa Almgren, Creighton Amy Braun, UNI Krista DeGeest, UNI Shea Doran, Indiana State Mary Elizabeth Hooper, Wichita State Kelley Michnowicz, Missouri State Kristin Stauter, Illinois State
NCAA Tournament (at campus sites)
At Malibu, Calif. 12/1 - Pepperdine 3, Missouri State 0 At Lincoln, Neb. 12/1 - Kansas State 3, Wichita State 0 At Cedar Falls, Iowa 12/2 - UNI 3, Niagara 0 12/3 - Florida 3, UNI 1
2011 MVC Leaders (All Matches) Hitting Percentage
K
Stacy Qualizza, INS Ashley Andrade, WSU Elizabeth Field, WSU Bre Payton, UNI Calli Norman, MSU
277 229 245 240 278
Kills Per Set
S
Morgan Dall, INS Emily Adney, WSU Shannon McGlaughlin, ILS Laura Thole, SIU Jessica Whitehead, SIU
67 112 123 106 104
Assists Per Set
S Assists Avg.
Carly Thomas, MSU Bre Payton, UNI Mary Elizabeth Hooper, WSU Madison Kamp, BU Rachael Brown, SIU
111 125 112 101 106
1247 11.23 1335 10.68 1166 10.41 1003 9.93 1048 9.89
Service Aces Per Set
S
Aces
Avg.
Camri Zwiesler, WSU Morgan Dall, INS Monique Morris, INS Michelle Sicner, CU Amy Angelos, BU
111 67 106 104 94
36 21 33 30 26
0.32 0.31 0.31 0.29 0.28
Digs Per Set
S
Digs
Avg.
Julianne Mandolfo, CU Sarah Waldorf, WSU Kiya James, INS Ashley Mason, MSU Candice Burke, UNI
117 112 106 111 125
693 572 503 523 585
5.92 5.11 4.75 4.71 4.68
Blocks Per Set
S
BS
BA
Avg.
Krista DeGeest, UNI Laurel Sanford, CU Ashley Andrade, WSU Calli Norman, MSU
125 117 112 111
15 13 13 15
150 131 106 101
1.32 1.23 1.06 1.05
E
TA
Pct.
59 53 54 57 92
589 498 547 536 558
.370 .353 .349 .341 .333
Kills
Avg.
299 382 419 346 338
4.46 3.41 3.41 3.26 3.25
20122012 Guide Guide
63 63