Redbird volleyball picked 5th in MVC preseason poll

Posted on August 17, 2016
Jaelyn Keene
Redbird junior Jaelyn Keene was named to the MVC preseason team. (Photo courtesy GoRedbirds.com)

By ISU Sports Information

NORMAL – The Illinois State volleyball team has been picked to finish fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference in a preseason poll of league coaches, while Redbird junior Jaelyn Keene was named to the league’s preseason all-conference team, the Valley announced Wednesday.

Illinois State was selected for a top-half finish in the MVC after going 22-10 overall and 12-6 in league play a year ago.

Wichita State, with seven of 10 first-place votes and 97 voter points, was pegged to win the league. Missouri State (85 voter points), Southern Illinois (82) and Northern Iowa (72) were slated to finish second, third and fourth, as each team received one first-place vote.

Illinois State received 57 voter points to come in at fifth in the poll. The Redbirds were followed by Loyola (50), Indiana State (41), Drake (33), Bradley (18) and Evansville (15).

Keene reserved a spot on the preseason all-conference team for the second year in a row after a stellar sophomore campaign in 2015. Keene led Illinois State and ranked second in the league in hitting percentage, with a .420 mark, while ranking second on her team and eighth in the conference in points, with 3.51 per set.

Keene was joined on the preseason all-conference team by Wichita State’s Emily Hiebert and Abbie Lehman, Southern Illinois’ Andrea Estrada, Northern Iowa’s Kayla Haneline and Missouri State’s Lily Johnson.

Illinois State will host its annual Red and White Scrimmage Saturday at Redbird Arena, beginning at 1 p.m. Admission is free and fans are also encouraged to attend Illinois State’s annual Fan Fair, held on the Hancock Stadium Concourse, beginning at 2:30 p.m. Fans are then encouraged to stick around for Illinois State’s football scrimmage at 4 p.m. at Hancock Stadium.

The Illinois State volleyball team will begin its regular-season schedule Aug. 26-27 at the Loyola Marymount Invitational, in Los Angeles, California. The Redbirds home opener is set for Aug. 31, when Saint Louis visits for a 6 p.m. match at Redbird Arena.

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