EVANSVILLE, Ind.- University of Southern Indiana Volleyball hosts their final Ohio Valley Conference series of the 2024 season against Morehead State University on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Liberty Arena. USI Athletics asks fans to bring any canned goods as both matches will be a food drive for the less fortunate. 
 
Coverage
Both volleyball matches on ESPN+ can be found at the links above or on the USI Volleyball schedule where you can also find the live stats. Tickets to USI Volleyball home games are free curtesy of ProRehab. In game updates will be provided on Twitter, while pregame and post-game updates can be found on all three @USIAthletics platforms. 
 
USI HEADLINES
ALL TIME SERIES HISTORY. The Screaming Eagles are 1-6 against Morehead State. Despite falling in all regular season appearances, USI earned their first program win over MSU last season in the OVC Tournament Quarterfinals. The win marked the programs first conference win in the OVC and in NCAA Division I play. Prior to moving up, both teams met in 1983 and 1988, both resulting in Morehead wins.
 
Recap at Tennessee Tech. USI traveled Tennessee Tech University last week needing to salvage at least one match to keep their OVC Tournament hopes alive. However, USI was swept in both matches losing on Thursday (10-25, 21-25, 22-25) and Friday (20-25, 20-25, 20-25). The Eagles were overwhelmed in kills (65-100), aces (3-15), and attacking percentage (.167-.253). The defense struggled to defend TTU's elite outside hitters as the Golden Eagles Isringhausen and Pierce totaled 49 kills on the weekend. USI came out slow in both matches being outscored 30-50 making the road difficult to overcome. The Eagles struggled late in sets being outscored (8-22) in the final five points. Junior Bianca Anderson and sophomore Ashby Willis combined for 35 kills in two matches.
 
Eliminated from OVC Tournament. USI's two losses over the weekend and Tennessee State University's win officially eliminated the Eagles from earning the eighth spot in the OVC Tournament. Moreover, Tennessee State (5-11) is two games ahead of the Eagles and owns the tie breaker in the case that both teams tied in records. Furthermore, Eastern Illinois University (4-12) and TSU play this for a chance to earn the eighth seed. EIU needs to sweep the Tigers to advance to the tournament.
 
Passing All-Time USI Legends. Four different Eagles have cemented themselves inside the top 5/10 in the all-time record books this season. Senior Paris Downing sits at 10th all-time in total blocks (307) and block assists (250). Junior Castle product, Keira Moore vaulted through the books currently sitting at seventh all-time in digs at 1,245 in only three years. Senior Abby Weber has played a variety of roles in her five years with the Eagles, but specializes in digs attacks at eighth all-time with 1,207. Senior Carly Sobieralski also enters her final week with the Eagles, leaving a monumental impact on the program. Sobieralski racked up the fifth most assists in program history with 2,827. 78% of those assists occurred in her junior and senior season.
 
Moore and Willis Making Jumps. Junior libero Keira Moore continues to deny attacks with 484 digs this season, diving across the court with zero fear. Moore chases her season high in 2023 of 498, which ranks fifth all-time for a season as she needs 15 on Tuesday to break it. The libero ended her 11-game streak of 15+ dig performances against Tennessee State with 14. The junior has exceeded her pervious averages by a wide margin with 3.87 digs per set in 2022, 4.18 in 2023, and 4.65 in 2024. Willis is only one kill away from eclipsing 300 on the season leading the Eagles. Between her freshman season at Purdue University-Fort Wayne and USI, she's tallied 576 kills.
 
Sobieralski's Legacy. As mentioned above, Sobieralski helped make the USI Volleyball transition into NCAA Division I play much easier once she assumed the role of starting setter. Sobieralski has also displayed a different area of her game in 2024, racking up a season high 362 digs. The senior currently sits at 951 for her career needing to average nearly 25 per game to break 1,000. The goal of reaching 3,000 assists is most likely out of reach, but her 10.08 assists per set marks a career high. Last weekend, she passed 1,000 assists for the season her second straight year as an Eagle. The senior holds her play to an extremely high standard helping the program strive to be their best day in day out.
 
Scouting MORE. Morehead State University (14-13, 10-6 OVC) has made a late emergence in the latter half of the OVC season. MSU went 4-7 in non-conference play with wins over University of Evansville, Duquesne University, Radford University, and Youngstown State University. The Eagles started the season with a .500 conference record through ten games, three of their losses in five sets. Their season turned around after sweeping the series against Lindenwood University, who was in first place at the time. The Eagles have won five of their last six conference matches heading into town. Junior M.E. Hargan leads them offensively tallying a double-double in eight out of the past 11 matches, along with a team leading 328 kills. Maycie Welborn is another key contributor with six consecutive double digit kill matches and has 10+ in seven of the last eight. In the last six matches, Welborn has 87 kills and hit .313. Welborn's season-high of 19 kills came this past Friday in the win over Eastern Illinois.
 
USI Strengths and Weaknesses Statistically. Sobieralski continues to shine, helping the Eagles rank third in the conference in assists per set (11.97) as a team. The Eagles also excel on the back line in digs ranking third (17.82 per set). USI also ranks fifth in the OVC in kills (12.69 per set). The Eagles have struggled with hitting percentage (9th, .167), opponent percentage (9th, .208), blocks (9th, 1.72 BPS), and service aces (10th, 1.18 SAPS).
 
Morehead State's Strengths and Weaknesses Statistically. TTU attacks the net with extreme efficiency ranking third in the conference with a .212 hitting percentage. The Golden Eagles also are fourth in kills at 12.73 per set and second in service aces at 1.61. USI struggles with winning the block battle as Morehead State ranks third in the conference at 2.34 per set. The Eagles struggle with digs ranking seventh at 16.25 per set and assists at sixth with 11.58 per set.