Erin Jones had eight of her career-high 25 kills in game two and Staci Boyce had five of her career-high 22 kills as she scored seven of the last nine Redbird points in the match as Illinois State stopped Indiana State 30-24, 30-22, 25-30, 30-26 in a Missouri Valley Conference volleyball match Sunday at Redbird Arena.
After the Birds won the first two games and lost game three, they fell behind 22-19 in game four. Jones put down a kill, then an ace to cut the lead to 22-21 before Boyce went on the attack with five kills and two blocks in the final nine points of the match. Illinois State had 74 kills for the match, 57 on Kelly Rikli set assists. Paige White led the Redbird defense with 15 digs, matching her career best.
The Redbirds, 5-8 overall, 3-4 in the Valley, trailed 22-21 in game one when Jones and fellow senior Kabbes went to work. Jones had four kills and Kabbes had three as the home team finished that game with a 9-2 blitzeach point on a kill.
Jones, who had 19 kills in a Wednesday win over Northern Illinois, believes her team is playing better than it did during a 4-8 start.
Weve turned it around, said Jones. Our backs were against the wall. We saw that we needed to perform and I think we did that tonight.
Jones also applauded the play of her left-side teammate, Boyce and her setter, Rikli.
I just love calling shots for Staci, said Jones. We communicate well. We both want each other to succeed and I just love watching that 30-inch vertical jump before she swings. Kellys been money lately. Shes making great decisions, and when she makes great decisions, we get great opportunities to put the ball away.
Sycamore coach Jim Bertoli thought the difference in the match was Illinois States left-side hitting advantage with Boyce and Jones.
Staci and Erin high a lot of nice, high balls and tooled our blockers, said Bertoli. Our left sides just werent able to produce. They (Illinois State) just kept setting balls out there because we couldnt stop them (Boyce and Jones).
Redbird assistant coach Dawn Sullivan substituted in the post-game press conference for head coach Sharon Dingman, who was a bit under the weather. Sullivan applauded the work of Boyce, a junior, and Jones and Jenny Kabbes, both seniors, in a lineup which has been more stable lately.
Our upperclassmen are stepping up, said Sullivan, referring to the Indiana State win as well as the Northern Illinois win on Wednesday. But that doesnt mean the others arent playing well. We just needed some change to see what would work.
Illinois State had 22 kills in game one and backed that with 18 more in game two. Again it was Jones taking command. With the scored tied 4-4, a Jones kill got her to the service line, where she added three more points, including an ace. After two Indiana State points, the Birds went on a 9-1 run to take a 17-7 leadmore than Indiana State could handle.
But the Sycamores battled back in game three behind Kylee Osbornes six kills and a .349 hitting percentage.
We won game three, but we still didnt play the way you have to in this league to win consistently, said Bertoli.
The Sycamores, 7-8 overall, 2-5 in the Valley were led in kills by Osborne with 18 and Brittanie Stowell with 15 and in digs by Kelly Spisak, who had 21. The Birds had a .282 to .190 hitting percentage advantage. Indiana State has lost all 19 matches against the Redbirds in Normal..
The Redbirds ended a four-match home stand and go back on the road for Valley matches Friday at Drake and Saturday at Creighton.
