Volleyball Continues Road Stretch With Pair of Important Conference Matches This Weekend

Belmont (7-13, 3-4 MVC) at Southern Illinois (11-7, 4-2 MVC) 

Friday, Oct. 14 | 6pm 

Live Stats | Match Notes 

Davies Gym | Carbondale, Ill. 

Belmont at Missouri State (5-13, 2-4 MVC) 

Saturday, Oct. 15 | 5pm 

ESPN3 | Live Stats 

Hammons Student Center | Springfield, Missouri

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Belmont University volleyball team continues their longest stretch of conference road games this year with trips to Illinois and Missouri this weekend, taking on Southern Illinois on Friday evening before traveling to Missouri State on Saturday night. 

Both contests will be rematches against two MVC opponents that the Bruins narrowly lost to three weeks ago at the Curb Event Center. Belmont fell, 3-1, to Missouri State on Sept. 23 before nearly pulling off a reverse sweep of Southern Illinois on Sept. 24, getting edged in the fifth set in a 3-2 defeat. 

Saturday's contest against the Bears in Springfield, Missouri, will be streamed on ESPN3. Live stats for both matches will be on BelmontBruins.com, and in-game updates will be posted to Twitter by @BelmontVB. 

What's Bruin 

• Belmont is coming off a pair of road losses at two of the top four teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, a 3-0 defeat at UIC last Friday and a 3-2 loss at Valparaiso last Saturday 

• Belmont has won at least one set in 16 of their 20 matches 

• Belmont collected 15 total blocks last Saturday against Valpo, the most in a match for the Bruins since 2017 

• With Saturday's five-set loss to Valpo, Belmont became just the fifth team to either beat the Beacons or push them to five sets. Valparaiso is tied for second in the country in victories (18). 

• Junior middle blocker Kristen Clemons tallied her 100th career block on Saturday against Valparaiso, the second Bruin to eclipse 100 career blocks this season, joining Sydney Willis 

• Clemons has been the best attacking middle blocker in the Valley this season, ranking eighth in the MVC in total points (252) and tenth in hitting percentage (.315) 

• Junior libero Rachel McBride tallied a career-high 37 digs on Saturday in the 3-2 loss to the Beacons, the second-most digs in a match in program history (Jamie Lundstrom, 2011), and tied for the most by a Valley player this season 

• McBride is fifth in the MVC in total digs (297) 

• Sophomore setter Peyton O'Brien dished out 50 assists the last time the Bruins faced the Salukis on Sept. 24, a career-high 

• Junior outside hitter Laura Shoopman ranks second in the Valley in total kills (285), second in total points (323), and fifth in points per set (4.04) 

• Shoopman has 16 matches this season with double-digit kills, and five matches with at least 20 kills, the first Bruin to do that since Arianna Person in 2016 

• Junior middle blocker Sydney Willis is sixth in the MVC in total blocks (68) and is coming off an eight-block performance against Valpo on Saturday, matching her career-high 

• In conference play, Belmont has held opponents to a league-best mark of 1.57 blocks per set 

• Belmont has two true road wins this season, taking down Georgia State, 3-2, at the Panther Invitational in August and defeating Murray State, 3-1, for their first MVC win on Sept. 27 

About the Salukis 

• Belmont fell to Southern Illinois the last time they met on Sept. 24, 19-25, 24-26, 28-26, 25-19, 8-15, at the Curb Event Center in Nashville 

• The Bruins out-hit the Salukis .296 to .260 and out-blocked them 9 to 2, but 25 kills from Nataly Garcia and 11 total service aces from the visitors helped push them over the top 

• Kristen Clemons tallied 17 kills for Belmont, while Brooke Gilleland had a career-high 16 kills. Peyton O'Brien dished out a career-high 50 assists with 17 digs 

• Southern Illinois has been one of the most surprising teams in the Valley. One year after finishing 0-18 in conference play and 5-26 overall, the Salukis are 4-2 in Valley action and 11-7 overall, currently fifth in the standings after being picked 12th 

• The Salukis are second in the conference in hitting percentage (.245), second in kills per set (14.06), third in digs per set (15.62), and first in service aces per set (1.90) 

• Southern Illinois is coming off a pair of road wins last weekend against Evansville (3-0) and Indiana State (3-1) 

• The all-time series between Belmont and Southern Illinois now stands at 1-1 

About the Bears 

• Belmont dropped their first meeting against Missouri State earlier this season on Sept. 23, falling 17-25, 20-25, 26-24, 9-25 

• Missouri State hit a season-high .316 for the match and got 45 assists from setter Morgan Sprague 

• Laura Shoopman led the Belmont attack with 14 kills, while Ally Peterson had 13 and Brooke Gilleland finished with 11. Rachel McBride tallied 18 digs 

• Entering the weekend, the Bears sit 0.5 games back of Belmont in eighth place. The top eight teams will make the MVC Tournament on November 23-27 in Evansville, Indiana 

• Missouri State's last nine matches have gone at least four sets 

• Senior outside hitter Manuela Ibarguen has finished with 20 or more kills in three consecutive matches entering the weekend 

• Since 2000, Missouri State is 233-66 (.779) at home 

• Missouri State leads the all-time series with Belmont, 3-0 

Follow Belmont volleyball on social media - @BelmontVB on Twitter and @belmontvball on Instagram - for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.               

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