This weekend the Panthers embark on their second-longest roadtrip of the conference season, traveling to Carbondale to take on the Southern Illinois Salukis on Friday night, and then onto Evansville, IN for a match against the Purple Aces on Saturday.
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Southern Illinois (6-7 MVC, 12-13 overall) is currently in 6th place in the conference standings (1.5 matches behind INS, 2 matches ahead of UE), and are looking to hold on to that last spot in the MVC tournament.
The Salukis are a down a bit from last year (when they beat the Panthers in all three matches: home, away, and in the MVC tourney), but can still pose a challenge, especially at home. They operate a 6-2 offense (subbing in 2 different setters in order to maintain 3 front row attackers) and tend to run a very quick offensive scheme, which UNI has sometimes struggled to defend. In the matchup in Cedar Falls, the Panthers were able to use a strong serving game to often keep the Salukis "out of system", which slowed them down and made it easier to defend, and UNI swept the match fairly easily (-16 -18 -17).
SIU plays their volleyball matches in Davies Gym, which is a small, older venue somewhat similar to the West Gym with the fans being close to the benches and the court and a good chance of the ceiling (or at least the lights/girders) affecting play. They're averaging 377 in home attendance this season, but with it being a smaller gym (listed capacity of 1250), a crowd of 500+ can still make an impact.
Match time for Friday is the usual 7 p.m.
live stats - UNI radio on AM 1330 and online for those with Panther InsideAccess subscriptions
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Evansville (4-9 MVC, 8-17 overall) is currently in 7th place in the conference standings.
The Panthers swept the Purple Aces in Cedar Falls (-19 -12 -11).
This match will be played in the Carson Center, which features seating for a whopping 500 people, though they average about 250 for their MVC matches. The fairly low ceiling could come into play here as well.
For some reason, this match is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start, an hour earlier than usual. (Evansville is in Indiana, but it is still in the Central time zone. So unlike Indiana State, which is in eastern time and always starts at 6, UE typically starts theirs at 7.). Which unfortunately puts it in the middle of the big UNI/NDSU football timeframe.
Live Stats - UNI radio on 1330 and Panther InsideAccess
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Southern Illinois (6-7 MVC, 12-13 overall) is currently in 6th place in the conference standings (1.5 matches behind INS, 2 matches ahead of UE), and are looking to hold on to that last spot in the MVC tournament.
The Salukis are a down a bit from last year (when they beat the Panthers in all three matches: home, away, and in the MVC tourney), but can still pose a challenge, especially at home. They operate a 6-2 offense (subbing in 2 different setters in order to maintain 3 front row attackers) and tend to run a very quick offensive scheme, which UNI has sometimes struggled to defend. In the matchup in Cedar Falls, the Panthers were able to use a strong serving game to often keep the Salukis "out of system", which slowed them down and made it easier to defend, and UNI swept the match fairly easily (-16 -18 -17).
SIU plays their volleyball matches in Davies Gym, which is a small, older venue somewhat similar to the West Gym with the fans being close to the benches and the court and a good chance of the ceiling (or at least the lights/girders) affecting play. They're averaging 377 in home attendance this season, but with it being a smaller gym (listed capacity of 1250), a crowd of 500+ can still make an impact.
Match time for Friday is the usual 7 p.m.
live stats - UNI radio on AM 1330 and online for those with Panther InsideAccess subscriptions
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Evansville (4-9 MVC, 8-17 overall) is currently in 7th place in the conference standings.
The Panthers swept the Purple Aces in Cedar Falls (-19 -12 -11).
This match will be played in the Carson Center, which features seating for a whopping 500 people, though they average about 250 for their MVC matches. The fairly low ceiling could come into play here as well.
For some reason, this match is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start, an hour earlier than usual. (Evansville is in Indiana, but it is still in the Central time zone. So unlike Indiana State, which is in eastern time and always starts at 6, UE typically starts theirs at 7.). Which unfortunately puts it in the middle of the big UNI/NDSU football timeframe.
Live Stats - UNI radio on 1330 and Panther InsideAccess
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