By Eric Stock

NORMAL – Illinois State hopes to use home court to its advantage as the Missouri Valley Conference volleyball tournament comes to Redbird Arena this weekend.

The third-seeded Redbirds will play Valparaiso at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Senior Jaelyn Keene said the Redbirds are playing at the best at the right time.

“Our whole goal of this year has been to peak at the end and I feel like we definitely have been playing our best volleyball toward the end of the year,” Keene said. “We are trying to focus on what we have done well and use that in the tournament and use that beyond if we are able to make it past the tournament.”

ISU has won five in a row and are 11-2 since the start of October.

“I love the way we are playing right now,” coach Leah Johnson said. “I think we are playing some of our best volleyball of the season.”

ISU junior Courtney Pence says home court advantage could be big.

“It’s really tough to play at Redbird (Arena) when you don’t practice in there every day or a few days a week, so having that advantage is always good,” Pence said. “It’s just a big arena, bigger than normal ones in the conference, that’s a big factor also.

“And also playing at home is always nice.”

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].