Despite 14 kills by Kendra Haselhorst and 13 by Megan OConnell, Illinois State dropped a four-game match at Louisville 15-8, 5-15, 15-4, 15-11, Tuesday at Cardinal Arena.
The Cardinals, the No. 1-ranked team in their region, advanced to 17-6 thanks to 14 kills by Stacey Mercer plus a 65-58 digging edge and an 11-8 blocking advantage.
Illinois State dropped to 13-8 after being out-hit .228 to .143 for the amtch. Louisville had decisive hitting advantages in game three and game four.
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman thought her team gave a good effort, but fell short.
We were focused on taking their outside hitters out of their offense and we did that, said Dingman. But their middles rose to the challenge when they needed it.
The Redbirds battled from down 6-2 to take an 8-7 lead in game one, but thats as far as Illinois State could get. The Birds served five more times and did not score. Five service errors, four net violations and eight hitting errors helped the Cards take the lead in the match.
Haselhorst, who had her 34th straight double-figure kill match, had 6 kills, OConnell had 5 and the Birds out-hit the Cards .302 to .000 to win game two. A four-point OConnell service stand opened an 8-4 lead into 12-4 as ISU kept control the rest of the game.
The Redbird passing gave U of L a great start early in game three, which began with a Kelly McLain service ace. McLain served two and Bing Sun served five more as U of L rolled up a 9-0 lead. Anastasia Zaitseva finished the game with four service points. The Cards hit .444 in that game to ISUs .027.
Our serving and passing could have been better, said Dingman. We made the adjustments we needed to make from game one to game two, but, in game three, our passing broke down.
ISUs 5-3 lead in game four fell victim to six straight Melissa Karrer service points and U of L led 9-5 as a result. The Cards extended to 10-5 before a Jackie Utz kill, a Louisville hitting error, a double-block by Erin Jones and Megan Stephenson and a Haselhorst kill pulled ISU within 10-9, but the Birds couldnt catch the Cards.
Illinois State returns to Missouri Valley Conference action at 7 p.m. Friday at Redbird Arena against Wichita State. The Birds complete the weekend with a 7 p.m. match Saturday vs. Southwest Missouri State, the team right behind ISU in the standings.
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