It will be a bit of a reunion for Illinois State coach Sharon Dingman and Kentucky coach Jona Braden in Saturday's first-round match of the Ohio State Volleyball Invitational in Columbus.
ISU and UK (1-3) meet at 4 p.m. Saturday, ressurrecting a rivalry that saw the Redbirds and Wildcats meet 12 times from 1973 to 1985, but not at all in the last 14 years.
"Jona and I go way back," said Dingman. Both are former Kentucky assistants. Braden was Dingman's boss as associate athletics director and senior women's administrator at Butler for five of Dingman's eight years in Indianapolis.
"We're anxious to see what we can do this against the competition this weekend," said Dingman, whose Redbirds are 2-1 heading into their final tune-up for Missouri Valley Conference play, which begins Sept. 15 at Bradley.
That competition will include Ohio State (4-0), which just fell out of the nation's Top 25 this week and Toledo (2-1), which square-off in the second semi-final match on Saturday. The winners meet at 1 p.m. Sunday and the losers at 11 a.m.
To get to the championship match, Dingman believes her team has to improve its defense while continuing to produce an offense averaging nearly 18 kills and 2.5 service aces per game.
"We want to improve our defense from the first weekend," said Dingman. "We need to be more consistent, especially digging. If we can continue to serve and block like we did last weekend, and keep our offense at a high level, we'll be up for the challenge."
Dingman believes Ohio State has Top 25 talent. The Buckeyes have a balanced offense which includes six players averaging between two and four kills per game.
"They are fast and big," said Dingman. "They would challenge us every way possible. But we can do things to challenge them. It would be a great opportunity to go head-to-head."
The Redbirds will be without sophomore middle blocker Christy Beyers, who suffered a knee injury last week. She was awaiting the results of an MRI performed Thursday afternoon to determine the extent of the injury. Junior Megan Stephenson, an outside hitter her entire career, filled in for Beyers last week and will start in her place this weekend.
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