Springfield Standard

Missouri State University's volleyball team will host Purdue Fort Wayne for a two-match series on September 11 and 12 at Hammons Student Center in Springfield, Missouri. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. The first match offers free admission for educators, military personnel, and first responders, while the second features a School/Club Team Night with postgame autographs.

The Bears currently hold a 2-4 record this season and aim to build on recent home success as they face the Mastodons, who are 1-5. The all-time series between the teams is tied at one win each. Missouri State swept Purdue Fort Wayne in Springfield in 2008, highlighted by Cara Hackmann setting an MSU record with a .882 hitting percentage. The Mastodons won their most recent meeting in Fort Wayne in 2009.

Missouri State is preparing for its move to Conference USA in 2025 after spending 33 seasons in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), where it achieved a .652 winning percentage over that period.

The current roster is young, featuring seven freshmen and six sophomores among its eighteen players. All seven Missouri natives on the squad come from within seventy-five miles of campus. Freshmen have contributed significantly this season, accounting for more than half of the team's kills. Peyton McKee leads with fifty-three kills and recently earned CUSA Freshman of the Week honors. Hannah Gardner has recorded thirty-eight kills and one hundred ten assists; she became the first freshman in school history to achieve a triple-double during a match against UTSA earlier this month.

Defensively, Missouri State has consistently ranked among the top programs nationally for total digs over recent years, including top-ten finishes twice since 2020-21 and ranking fourth nationally last season.

Service aces have also been a strength under head coach Steven McRoberts, with his teams posting some of their highest averages since adopting rally scoring rules.

Head coach Steven McRoberts is now in his sixth year leading Missouri State and his twenty-ninth overall as a collegiate head coach. He has accumulated six hundred fifty-nine career victories—ninth among active Division I coaches—and previously found success coaching Tulsa in Conference USA from 2011 to 2013.

First-year assistant coach Lori Endicott-Vandersnick brings Olympic experience to the staff; she helped Team USA earn bronze at the Barcelona Games in 1992 and was named best setter at those Olympics.

"Coach Mac is no stranger to Conference USA, going 44-6 in the league with two regular season titles, one tournament championship, and one CUSA Coach of the Year award (2011) while serving as head coach at Tulsa from 2011-13."