The University of Illinois Springfield volleyball team used a late season run to earn a bid to the GLVC Championship Tournament. The Prairie Stars will be competing in the postseason for the fourth time over the last four full seasons of action.
 
UIS will be the seventh-seed in the tournament, and will face second-seed Missouri-St. Louis in the opening round. The two teams are scheduled to play on Friday at 5:30 p.m. The tournament is taking place at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Ill.
 
The Prairie Stars were the most improved team in the GLVC this season under first-year head coach Kamille Jones. Jones led UIS to a 10-8 conference record, just a few months after the squad went 3-15 in GLVC play. UIS heads to the conference tournament with a 14-15 overall record, including an 8-3 record over its last 11 matches.
 
UIS's turnaround came on the offense side of play as it hit .235 during that 11-match stretch. The Prairie Stars have a 9-1 record this season when they hit over .200 for the match.
 
UIS has had a balanced offensive attack this year, with five players with over 190 kills. Angela Denney leads the team with 258, including averaging nearly 12 a set over the last six matches. Becca Blakeley directs the offense, and ranks ninth in the GLVC with 8.47 assists a set.
 
Defensively, the Prairie Stars are led by Amanda McConnell who is fifth in the league with 4.43 digs a set. Hannah Nicolaisen and Brianna Bush both have 96 blocks on the year.
 
UIS is 2-3 in its first three appearances at the GLVC Tournament, including reaching the semifinals in both 2017 and 2018.

UIS vs. Missouri-St. Louis
Date/Time/Location: Friday, November 19, 5:30 p.m. – East Peoria, Ill.
Streaming: https://www.glvcsn.com/
Live Stats: https://glvcsports.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
All-Time Series: UMSL leads 14-4 (First meeting in GLVC Tournament)
 
Missouri-St. Louis is currently 22-7 on the season, and it was second in GLVC play with a 15-3 mark. The Tritons have won seven out of their last eight matches. In the latest regional rankings, Missouri-St. Louis was fifth in the Midwest Region.
 
Missouri-St. Louis is second in the league with a .162 opponent hitting percentage, and it ranks fourth with a .218 hitting mark. The Tritons lead the GLVC with over 20 digs a set, and they are second with 13.78 kills a set.
 
Charlotte Richards is third in the nation with 4.70 kills a set. Other players near the top of the GLVC leaders are Megan Woll with 5.76 digs a set, Kaileen Herman with 10.22 assists per set, and Alexa Rang with 0.40 aces per set.
 
Earlier this year, Missouri-St. Louis defeated UIS by a 3-1 score on the opening day of the GLVC season. The scores were 21-25, 25-21, 25-16, and 25-20. UIS was held to a .108 hitting percentage, while Missouri-St. Louis hit .155. Hannah Nicolaisen had 13 kills and a .315 mark for the Prairie Stars. Amanda McConnell had a team-high 32 digs, and Becca Blakeley recorded 32 assists and six blocks.
 
All-time, Missouri-St. Louis leads the series with UIS by a 14-4 margin. In the last eight meetings, both teams have won four times, and seven of those eight matches went at least four sets.

Up Next
The winner of the UIS/Missouri-St. Louis match will face the winner of the Rockhurst/Southern Indiana contest on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The championship match will take place on Sunday at noon.