Kendra Haselhorst racked up 17 kills while Megan OConnell added10 of her own as Illinois State defeated Southern Illinois 15-9, 15-12, 15-5 in a Missouri Valley Conference volleyball match Friday at Redbird Arena.
The Redbirds, 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the Valley, beat the Salukis for the19th straight time and the 44th time in 49 meetings. ISU served up a load of trouble on the Salukis with 13 service aces-- four in the first, five in the second and four in the third game.
Southern Illinois, 7-5, 0-2, was led by Kristie Kemner who had 14 kills.
Haselhorst had eight kills in the first game as the Birds took a 2-0 lead and held it.
Becky Weber tipped the Redbirds into a 4-0 lead in game two, catching the Saluki defense off balance with shots to the middle. ISU struggled at the finish. A 14-8 lead became 14-12 before Abby Lewis came off the bench to serve the winning point--she was the seventh different player to serve for game point.
ISU mounted a 13-4 lead in game three behind six kills by OConnell. Haselhorst then stepped back to the line to serve an ace for the fourteenth point, then set the assist for the Abby Lewis kill that notched the final point for the Birds.
Haselhorst had a hand in six of ISUs eight team blocks
Illinois State head coach Sharon Dingman was happy that her team served and blocked so well.
Serving and blocking are the easiest ways to score points, said Dingman, coaching her first match in Redbird Arena as ISU head coach. We want our team to realize that serving is not just putting the ball in play, its your first chance to score points.
ISU scored almost a third of its point on the service line.
Southern Illinois coach Sonya Locke thought her teams 21 hitting errors contributed to the Salukis demise.
We just made far too many errors, said Locke. We beat ourselves. On the road, sometimes that one critical error can lead to three points (against your team).
Dingman thought her team might have been too casual in playing its first home match of the season as 2,185 fans cheered-on the Birds.
I was worried wed be too pumped up, said Dingman. But, at times, I thought we were a little too casual.
The Redbirds play host to Evansville at 7 p.m. Saturday. Southern Illinois travels to Indiana State.
