This is the time of year where teams find out if they are really championship material or not.

The Wichita State volleyball team played three games in four days, including key conference matches against Illinois State and Indiana State over the weekend.

For the Shockers, it was time to prove how tough they really are.

“I don’t expect anything less than us to fight through,” senior libero Jackie Church said. “Everyone has to go through it. I tell our girls we want to be hit at and we want to be put on the ground every day, because that’s what’s going to make us better.”

And fight through the Shockers did.

After dispatching Oklahoma on Wednesday, the Shockers came home and defeated Illinois State 3-1 on Friday before sweeping Indiana State on Saturday.

The wins improve WSU to 13-5 overall, 6-2 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

“Survive,” WSU coach Chris Lamb said. “That’s what we are going to work to do.”

The Shockers swept Indiana State with scores of 25-17, 25-21 and 25-14. It was the 21st-straight win in the series with the Sycamores.

WSU never found itself in any serious threat to lose any of the three sets. The last time the Sycamores beat WSU in a set in Koch Arena was 2002.

“We made six percent attack errors, so we didn’t give them anything,” Lamb said. “If we play clean, we should beat a lot of teams we should beat.”

Emily Adney led the Shockers with 10 kills. Chelsey Feekin hit .750, finishing with 9 kills and 28 assists.

As a team, the Shockers outhit Indiana State .340 to .143.

Friday’s win against Illinois State was a little more of a challenge for the Shockers. WSU won by scores of 20-25, 26-24, 25-21 and 25-16.

Adney once again led the way with 22 kills for the Shockers.

“Adney went off in the third and fourth sets,” Illinois State coach Melissa Myers said to The Wichita Eagle. “She saw the court well and made great decisions.”

The biggest news to come out of the weekend wasn’t about who won, but who lost.

Northern Iowa, which entered the weekend having won 65-consecutive Missouri Valley Conference games, fell on the road to Creighton 3-1 on Friday.

UNI’s loss opens the door for other teams in the Valley to step up, including WSU. The Shockers are half a game back of Creighton and UNI for first place in the MVC.