Kim Kester had 16 kills and Molly OBrien added 15 more as Northern Iowa downed Illinois State 30-21, 30-16, 30-21 in Missouri Valley Conference volleyball Saturday at Redbird Arena.
We just did not capitilize on our opportunities, said Illinois State head coach Sharon Dingman. They (Northern Iowa) had more hitting errors tonight then I have seen them hit all year. It was a tough weekend. We are at a point where we need to be looking forward and not dwell on our losses.
The Panthers, 22-1 overall, 12-1 in the Valley, out-hit the Redbirds .301 to .065 for the match.
It is never easy coming to play here (Redbird Arena), said Northern Iowa head coach Bobbi Petersen. Not having Megan (OConnell) was a big blow to them (Illinois State), but I thought they did a good job of trying to overcome that. Our hitting though has been one of our strongest points all season.
Megan OConnell suffered a concussion in the Bradley game the night before and sat out of tonights contest.
The Redbirds fell to 13-10 overall, 9-5 in the Valley despite nine kills by Jenny Kabbes and eight digs by Becky Weber.
OBrien collected three of her 6 first-game kills to help UNI take a 5-0 lead before ISU got going. The Redbirds ate away at the Panther lead, eventually closing to 14-12 when Becky Webers service ace finished a 4-0 Redbird run. But OBrien responded with back-to-back kills and UNI was off on an 8-2 run which included four kills by Kim Kester, and the Panthers bagged their 16th straight game win over ISU.
UNI led 9-4 in game two when Kelly Rikli entered the lineup for ISU. Jenny Kabbes got a kill and a block to start a 4-0 run to close it to 9-8. The Birds got no closer as Kester had seven kills for UNI.
ISU stepped up its defense early in game three to take a 9-5 lead before the Panthers went on a 10-3 run to take the lead at 15-12 lead. The Redbirds chased, but never got closer than three points after that.
The Redbirds hit the road next week to play at Wichita State Friday and Southwest Missouri State Saturday.
