Jenny Kabbes' 14 kills in 17 attempts broke the Redbird Arena hitting percentage record with an .824 mark to lead Illinois State by Evansville 30-24, 30-18, 30-16 in a Missouri Valley Conference volleyball match at Redbird Arena. The junior middle blocker also had 11 digs in the match.
Also in the same match, Redbird setter
Becky Weber reached two career mileposts, becoming the eighth ISU player to reach 100 career service aces and the third player to surpass 3,000 set assists. Webers 100th ace gave ISU a 13-11 lead in game one. Her 3,000th assist went to Kabbes for point 17 of game two.
Weber finished with eight kills, 19 set assists, seven digs and four service aces as the Redbirds, 6-4 overall, 2-1 in the Valley, beat the Aces for the 15th time in the series without a loss by out-hitting UE .400 to .107 for the match. ISUs .400 hitting percentage was seventh-best in the 12-year history of Redbird Arena volleyball.
Jessica Kiefer and Samantha Butler led the Aces, 3-9 overall, 1-4 in the Valley, with 10 kills.
Webers four early service points got the Birds out fast, but, with ISU leading 10-5, Kiefer served four straight points to pull UE even at 10-10. ISU began to pull away thanks to Kabbes 5-for-6 hitting without an error. Weber also had five kills in game one.
Evansville coach Mark Hardaway thought the Redbirds got some help from his team.
We gave them way too many easy opportunities, said Hardaway. Its a great place to come and play, but I felt like we cheated the fans a little. We didnt do much.
Hardaway wasnt surprised that Kabbes had a great night against his team.
Wed talk a lot about Haselhorst in years past and then look up and Kabbes would hit .700 or .800 against us, so Kabbes hitting well against us is something we expected, said Hardaway. We knew what was coming, but didnt do much to stop it.
Even though Kabbes converted six of seven kills, ISU cooled off to .293 hitting in game two. Weber had 10 set assists in that game to help the Birds finish 13-4 to pull away from a 17-14 lead to finish the game.
I couldnt even see the block, so it was just a matter of getting it in court, said Kabbes.
We passed well from point one to point 30 in every game, said Weber. We served well and capitalized on their mistakes.
After UE scored the first three points of game three
Megan O'Connells kill put the serve in Webers hands. The senior served nine unanswered points; two on her own aces, one on an OConnell kill and six more on UE hitting errors as the Aces struggled to pass effectively against her serve. The Aces broke the streak for one point before OConnell served four more points to put ISU ahead 15-4.
ISU head coach
Sharon Dingman started clearing her bench at that point.
We were focused on our game plan, said Dingman. That goes back to our setter and Becky got the middles involved early.
Erin Jones only got 10 swings, but played a well-rounded game and really passed exceptionally well.
Jones led all players with 13 digs for the match. ISU plays Southern Illinois at 7 p.m. Saturday and the Aces travel to Indiana State.
