Becky Weber served.
Abby Lewis swung.
Megan Stephenson blocked. Three Redbird seniors did their things and Illinois State won on Senior Night, beating Indiana State 30-25, 30-22, 30-21 in Missouri Valley Conference volleyball Saturday at Redbird Arena.
The fourth senior, serving and back-row specialist
Brandi Petelle, served an ace on her first touch when she entered the match midway in game two. She finished the match with two aces and seven digs.
Weber opened the games with seven, three and four service points, respectively, even though she just had one ace, and Indiana State never led. Lewis had seven kills in game one, eight kills in game two to finish with a career-high 19 kills. Stephenson had just four kills, but her eight blocks were three more than Indiana State had as a team.
I got some great sets from Becky and I saw some holes, Lewis said. I guess I was just feeling it tonight.
The Weber-Lewis connection impressed Redbird coach
Sharon Dingman.
I think what we saw here tonight from Abby and Becky was the best performance I have seen out of a Redbird in my two years here, Dingman said. Abby did a great job for us, and Becky set the tone right at the start.
The Redbirds, 15-12 overall, 11-6 in the Valley, out-hit the Sycamores .221 to .032 for the match. Weber and Lewis dug, too, leading the Birds with 13 digs apiece.
The Sycamores, 13-15, 7-10 in the Valley, dropped their fifth straight match despite 9 kills and 21 digs by Cheryl Berg, but get another crack at Illinois State at 4 p.m. (central time) Sunday as the teams meet in Terre Haute. That match was postponed from September 11 because of the national tragedies.
Indiana State coach Jim Bertoli thought his team handled Webers serves, but generally failed to convert its opportunities.
We passed Becky just fine, but our attackers didnt get the job done and our setter didnt do a good job of creating one-on-one situations for our hitters, said Bertoli. When Illinois State made mistakes, it didnt affect them. They had six service errors in game one. They didnt tuck their tails between their legs ... they just played more aggressive volleyball than we did from the first serve to the last ball.
Weber, the Valleys leader in service aces, started the match by posting seven service points for the Redbirds with her thundering jump serves. Weber didnt have an ace in game one or game two, but she started game two with three more points as Indiana State struggled to pass and gave Illinois State convenient scoring opportunities.
Indiana State will play better (Sunday), Dingman said. Our biggest challenge will be ourselves. It is another day and another match.
Getting out 7-0 in game one and 7-1 in game two, the Redbirds beat the Sycamores for the 32nd time in 34 meetings. The Redbirds have won all 18 matches against Indiana State in Normal.
