Between an opponents serve and a teammates swing, Paige White does her job. She turns sizzling, sinking, spinning serves into soft passes to Kelly Rikli so the Redbird setter can put the ball right where one of the Illinois State hitters can hammer it.
In functional volleyball language, White is a passer. The final box score doesnt even recognize passes, even though those who have to make them frequently face the hardest, hottest balls coming across the net. As the Redbird libero, White never plays a rotation in the front court, but the Redbird offense spins to a stop without her. The six-match winning streak the Redbirds take into Fridays showdown at Southwest Missouri State wouldnt have happened without White.
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman applauded Whites work.
Our team is very relaxed and confident, said Dingman, whose Redbirds are 10-8 overall, 7-4 in the Missouri Valley. Paige has become solid as our libero and that has helped our team. Her passing has become more consistent, and that gets our offense in position to have a lot of options.
About the time the Redbird winning streak started, Dingmans experimentation with players at the libero ended. She said Whites daily diligence took the difficulty out of the decision.
Paige started playing well every day in practice, said Dingman. Ever since we saw her play in high school, we believed she could dig a lot of balls, but wasnt consistent. Lately, her play in practice tells us every day, we simply cant keep you off the court.
White, a sophomore who prepped on University High Schools back-to-back Illinois High School Association championship teams, agrees she became a different player lately.
Ninety percent of my job is being focused mentally, said White. I think Ive gotten better at that. You have to have a one-track mind to pass the ball. You have to want the ball and want to pass it. And even if you get aced, you have to want the next ball ... every ball.
Dealing with adversity is where White claims she has changed.
In college, when you get aced, they come right back to you. And your attitude has to be you got that one, I get the next one, said White. And when I see (Erin) Jones, or (Staci) Boyce or any of our hitters on top of the ball and pounding a kill, I get really excited. Its like that kill is the end of a chain reaction and my pass set it off.
First-ball kills--those that come directly off serve receive--are how an offense dictates the tempo of a game. Teams with first-ball kill capability keep opposing servers from gathering momentum and opponents from putting a string of points together. Its been a strategy for success for the Redbirds recently, as ISU has won 13 straight games during its six-match win streak. The Birds havent lost since SMS, now 15-4, 9-1 in the Valley, beat them 3-0 Sept. 26 in Redbird Arena.
Dingman respects SMSs balance and talent. She also believes her team is better than the one the Bears beat back in September.
SMS is having a great season and we look forward to playing them, said Dingman. Your whole game has to go well to play a team like SMS, especially on the road. I think our team knows were significantly better than we were six or seven matches ago.
The Redbird road trip continues with an opportunity to avenge another September home loss. Wichita State, 11-11 and just one win from its highest season win total since 1998, beat the Redbirds in four games Sept. 25 in Redbird Arena. They meet at 7 p.m. Saturday in Wichita.
