Brief previews of Illinois State's games against Bradley and Northern Iowa

ISU vs. Bradley

Site: Robertson Memorial Field House, Peoria

Time: 7 p.m. today

ISU vs. Northern Iowa

Time: 7:05 p.m. Saturday

Site: Redbird Arena

Records: ISU 11-6, 3-3, Bradley 1-15, 0-5, Northern Iowa 8-8, 3-2 (prior to visiting Indiana State tonight)

Coaches Scott Luster is 132-151 in 10 years at Bradley. Bobby Peterson is 189-58 in eight years at Northern Iowa. Sharon Dingman is 135-2 in eight years at ISU.

ISU injuries

An abdominal injury has forced Kari Staehlin to cut back on her practice time to save herself for matches. Katie Seyller (ankle) returned to the starting lineup last weekend after coming off the bench against Missouri State Sept. 22.

Bradley injuries

Freshman Alex Starks, an outside hitter, will seek a medical redshirt after playing nine matches prior to a season-ending injury. Junior Katrina Goncher (2.03 kills per game) returned last weekend after missing four matches with a concussion.

What to watch for

- Bradley is hitting an anemic .144 to rank eighth in the Valley while ISU ranks fifth at .206. Nikki Pierzchala leads the Braves with 2.57 kills per game followed by Amy Reichel (2.21) and Jenna Harrison (2.17).

- Northern Iowa is led by preseason all-Valley pick Laura Rowen, a senior outside hitter averaging 2.93 kills per game. UNI's kill leaders are Ashten Stelken (3.26) and Danielle Brazda (2.95). Stelken leads the Valley in blocks (1.69) while Brazda is second (1.52). The Panthers lead the Valley with 3.42 blocks per game while ISU ranks eighth at 2.27. Panther setter Kristin Belzung ranks second in the Valley with 12.03 assists per game.

- Redbird coach Sharon Dingman anticipates a long match against Northern Iowa. Her team tends to keep rallies going, ranking third nationally in digs per game at 20.46. Kasey Mollerus leads the way with 4.62 digs per game. M.C. Richmond leads the Valley with 280 points, a statistic adding together kills (238), aces (16), solo blocks (seven) and block assists divided by two (38).

Points of interest

- Bradley has lost 10 consecutive matches since downing Western Illinois on Sept. 1. The Braves opened the season with 11 of their 16 matches on the road. Today they begin a 10-match stretch featuring seven home matches.

- Northern Iowa, the preseason Valley favorite, has lost to No. 4 pick Missouri State and No. 3 pick Creighton, both times in five games. The Panthers also lost in five games to Saint Louis, a team ISU beat, 3-0. UNI is 0-4 in five-game matches while the Redbirds are 2-0.

- ISU freshman Mallory Leggett averaged a team-best 3.78 kills per game last weekend, well above her season average of 2.85.

Talking the talk

- "Some of the most dangerous teams you play, any coach will tell you, are teams that are struggling. Every game is (Bradley's) Super Bowl game. They are putting themselves in position to win and just not getting it done at the end when they really need to." - ISU coach Sharon Dingman.

- "Northern Iowa is as physical as any team we probably are going to play this year including (No. 6) Florida." - Dingman

Compiled by Randy Sharer