The largest volleyball crowd in Illinois State and Missouri Valley Conference history5,641wasnt enough to stop No. 1 Stanford from winning its 26th straight match, 30-25, 30-22, 30-24 at Redbird Arena. Ogonna Nnamani led the Cardinal with 19 kills, including eight in game three.
The unexpected loss of kill leader and Redbird senior captain Erin Jones to illness hurt the Birds, but Illinois State demonstrated its depth by starting three freshmen. One of the rookies, Ashley Grubb, stepped in for Jones and had six kills for the Redbirds, including three in game two.
Without Erin, I think that Jenny and Staci stepped up, Illinois State coach Sharon Dingman. Its tough to put all of those freshmen out there, but we adjusted pretty well.
Big crowds for volleyball arent new at Illinois State, which ranks No. 7 in the nation in overall home volleyball attendance in the last decade. But the Redbirds smashed the previous largest crowd of 4,008 against Penn State, which had stood since 1993. Prior to the match, many of the patrons took part in a human flag ceremony to commemorate the heroes of Sept. 11, 2001 in Hancock Stadium, the concourse across from Redbird Arena.
To bring in this many people is amazing, Stanford player Ashley Ivy said. Ive played in front of large crowds in the Final Four, and this is comparable.
It was a homecoming for Nnamani, who played her high school volleyball at University High School on the Illinois State campus. Nnamani received a standing ovation from the Redbird Arena crowd during introductions.
It was a dream come true to see that kind of support from my family and friends, Nnamani said. Its a great feeling to come back here and play. I was so excited to be out on the court.
Stanford coach John Dunning agreed.
I havent played in many regular season settings like this one, Dunning said. This is a nice place to play; great fans who know the game.
The Redbirds, 2-4, chased Stanford through game one. The Cardinal, 7-0, pulled ahead 9-8 and Illinois State served five times to tie between then and 14-13, but couldnt convert against a Stanford offense which featured five kills each by Sara McGee and Lindsey Yamasaki. Jenny Kabbes and Staci Boyce had five each for ISU in the second game and had eleven and eight kills, respectively, for the match.
Illinois State led early in game two and had an 11-9 edge before a Nnamani block helped Stanford score three consecutive points. Grubbs kill gave ISU a 12-12 tie, but Nnamani pounded four kills in the next five points as the Cardinal moved comfortably to a 19-13 edge.
Tonight we played against one of the greatest coaches, as well as one of the greatest players in Oganna Nnamani, in the country, Dingman said. John Dunning is a fabulous coach and playing against Nnamani is like playing against one of the soon-to-be greatest players in the world.
I thought it was a great experience to play Stanford, Jenny Kabbes said. To be the best, you have to play against the best, and we proved tonight that we can play with anyone.
The Redbirds, who have played three ranked non-conference teams in the past week, play a familiar conference rival in Bradley when they take on the Braves at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 13 at Redbird Arena.
