For the second straight night, the Illinois State University volleyball team was forced to go five games, but this time the 'Birds pulled out a 15-13, 13-15, 15-8, 11-15, 15-10 win at Wichita State.
Illinois State, 8-5, 5-2 in the Valley, got a career-high 21 digs from Erin Jones and Kendra Haselhorst's 17 kills led four players in double figures as the 'Birds beat the Shockers for the 12th straight time.
Illinois State coach Sharon Dingman complemented the Shockers, 2-14, 0-8 in the Valley, under first-year coach Chris Lamb, as they pushed her team to the limit.
"They played like caged animals--like a team with nothing to lose," said Dingman. "They served hard and battled us. If they keep playing like that, they're going to give people trouble."
Jones and Abby Lewis, coming off the bench, were key figures in the win. Lewis served out game three and had a pair of service points to open a 4-point ISU lead in the rally game.
"Erin dug and passed everything tonight," said Dingman. "It wasn't pretty volleyball. Fortunately, we were better when we had to be, and we were definitely better in game five."
ISU pounded the Shockers for a .563 percentage in the deciding game, with Haselhorst and Staci Boyce collecting three kills each. Boyce had a career-high 13 for the game, while Megan O'Connell had 14 and Jones added 12.
Illinois State trailed 12-9 in game one, but Haselhorst came out of a timeout with back-to-back blocks which made her the all-time Redbird career total blocks leader with 493. That started a Redbird run which ended with Jones serving the last three points of the game, two on clutch kills by Lewis, who had three kills, two digs and a block despite not entering the game until ISU trailed 10-8.
ISU had leads of 10-6 and 11-8 in the second game, but Stephanie Whitcomb's five straight service points put the Shockers at game point 14-11. Lewis served two points to close it to 14-13. After seven straight side outs, Julie Renfrow's service ace pulled WSU even in the match. Eight WSU points scored on ISU hitting errors as ISU hit .000 for the game with 14 kills and 14 errors.
Game three dragged on for 40 minutes and ISU scrapped to an 11-8 lead before Lewis went into her closer role, serving out the final four points--three of them on aces. Haselhorst had six kills and Jones had 11 digs in that game.
Despite scoring the last seven points of game three, the 'Birds couldn't carry any momentum into game four. Two kills and two blocks by Nicole May gave WSU a 5-1 lead. ISU responded with six straight points, featuring three kills and a block by Staci Boyce. From that 7-5, WSU stalled the 'Birds into just one point in their next nine serve attempts, setting up game five.
O'Connell served three points to put ISU ahead 4-2 in the rally game and the teams swapped points until an O'Connell kill set up Lewis for back-to-back service points and ISU led 10-6. More point-swapping carried the 'Birds to 14-10 before Lewis closed the match with a cross-court kill.
Even though WSU had an 18-17 edge in team blocks, ISU's 32 block assists were the fourth highest single-match total in Redbird history. Stephenson led the Redbirds with eight assists, her career high.
The Redbirds, who have played just two of 13 matches at home this season, begin a four-match homestand against No. 20 Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Redbird Arena.
