Illinois State may not be ranked among the nation's top teams, but Redbird volleyball knows them all.
The Illinois State volleyball tradition of tough non-conference schedules has put a priority on playing highly-regarded teams as this year's poll shows.
UCLA's 23 first-place votes--including one from Illinois State coach Sharon Dingman--have the Bruins on top in the preseason USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, followed by Penn State, Stanford, Long Beach State and Hawaii. Also included in the poll results are 2000 Redbird opponents Northern Iowa (No. 22), Ohio State (No. 25), plus Notre Dame and Louisville from among those also receiving votes with 30 or more points.
Over the 27-year recorded history of Redbird volleyball, Illinois State has met all 34 teams mentioned in the preseason poll, winning 112 of a total of 244 matches against the group.
Dingman, starting her first season at Illinois State, believes in the Redbird tradition of scheduling top teams which began when current ISU associate athletics director Linda Herman was coach (1975-82), and continued through the Sandy Lynn (1983-86) and Julie Morgan coaching eras (1987-99).
"We will continue to schedule like that," said Dingman. "In that regard, I have a lot of the same beliefs as Julie Morgan. At Illinois State, we have the resources to play that kind of schedule, including Redbird Arena, an attractive place for visiting teams to want to play."
Kendra Haselhorst, the only four-year senior among the 2000 Redbirds, has squared-off against 12 of those 34 opponents in her first three seasons and has a chance to add two more by playing against Ohio State and Louisville this year.
Dingman believes preseason polls are a tough vote.
"There are teams which have lost a lot of players and teams which have lost key players," said Dingman. "Until teams start playing, it's hard to gauge how well they will adjust."
The Redbirds open their 2000 season Sept. 1 at the IKON Husky Classic hosted by the University of Connecticut.
