Abby Lewis led the Illinois State with 18 digs and pounded 12 kills in a 15-11, 8-15, 15-7, 15-5 Redbird victory over Wichita State Friday at Redbird Arena.
The Redbirds improved to 14-8 overall, 11-2 in the Missouri Valley with the help of a 17-11 block advantage. Junior Megan Stephenson had a hand in a career-high 11 blocks for the Redbirds, four in the final game. The Shockers dropped to 5-20, 1-13 in the Valley despite 21 kills and 27 digs from Jan Meloy.
Lewis had five kills and nine digs in game one, but that didnt stop the Shockers from taking a 10-5 lead in a sluggish, 35-minute opener. ISUs winning rally was based on slamming the door on the Shockers. WSU served nine times after earning that 10-5 lead, but scored just once. Haselhorst and Weber each had three-point service stands, with Webers finishing the game.
In practice Ive been working on eliminating errors, Lewis said. Tonight I was trying to find the open spots and it was working.
With the scored tied at 5-apiece in game two, Julie Renfrow served seven unanswered points as the Shockers took control. Lewis had five kills and five digs in game three as ISU regained its hitting touch with a .308 percentage including Megan OConnells 6 kills in 12 attempts.
Wichita State served very well and we werent getting into our offense well in games one and two, Illinois State coach Sharon Dingman said. Towards the end of the match, their serving started to break down.
The Redbirds roared to leads of 9-3 and 10-3 in game four thanks to Lewis and Jonna Burchett each serving a pair of aces and three blocks by Stephenson . The three consecutive blocks established a new career high of eleven blocks for Stephenson as the Birds out-blocked the Shockers 6-0 in the game. Brandi Petelle entered the game at match point and served an ace for the final Redbird point.
The first two games we were lacking in energy, Stephenson said. I brought all of my energy with me on to the court and got a couple of blocks, too..
Regardless of how many times you tell athletes to take games one at a time, when you play a team that is 1-12 in the conference on one day and turn around and play a team like Southwest Missouri State the next night, its hard to focus on the task at hand, Dingman added.
Illinois State meets Southwest Missouri State at 7 p.m. Saturday in Redbird Arena. Wichita State plays at Indiana State.
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