Staci Boyce had 15 kills and Emily Kabbes added eight service aces to lead Illinois State past Southern Illinois 30-18, 21-30, 30-15, 24-30, 15-8 Friday. It was Illinois States eighth five-game match in 17 starts this season and the second year in a row the Bitds have gone five with SIU in tiny Davies Gym.
Kabbes eight aces not only were a personal career high, but also are the second-highest single-match total in Illinois State history. ISU Hall of Famer Chris Rehor had 11 aces in a win at Loyola Nov. 12, 1986. Six players have had seven aces in a match, with Becky Weber the most-recent Redbird to get that total.
Emilys serving was big for us, said Redbird coach Sharon Dingman. But Staci gave us some big plays and (junior setter) Kelly (Rikli) gave us leadership. Kelly controlled the team. She pushed them when they needed it and encouraged them when they needed that.
The decisive fifth game began with a Maura McCarthy kill after a long rally. That put Emily Kabbes, who had on the service line and she added four more as ISU went up 5-0. With two kills and two blocks by Boyce, ISU kept the Salukis at arms length McCarthy had three of her nine kills in game five as she made her first start filling in for ISU kill leader Laura Doornbos, sidelined with a sprained left ankle.
Win No. 802 in Redbird history was win No. 50 against the Salukis. With a 50-5 all-time record against SIU and has won 24 of the last 25. Southern Illinois, which lost eight of its top 10 players from last season to graduation, fell to 4-14 overall, 0-7 in the Valley.
The Redbirds, 7-10, 1-5 in the Valley, had 13 team service aces to seven of SIU. The Salukis had more kills, 59-57, and more digs 67-65, but ISU had a 7-5 blocking edge behind Boyces four.The win ended the longest league losing streak in Redbird volleyball history.
Kabbes nailed three service aces during a 6-0 Redbird run which put ISU ahead 9-6 in game one. Redbird serving kept the Saluki offense out of system most of the game In game two, Jene Pulliam had the service stand that made the difference. She served six in a row to put the Salukis up 22-10 in a game where the Birds had trouble passing SIU serves.
We really struggled to pass at times tonight, said Dingman. When we passed the ball, we were in control. We need to find that consistency.
Savannah Knowles put herself on the service line with a kill in game three, and served the next six points to give ISU a 9-4 lead in game three. One point later, Kabbes drilled a kill out of the middle and went to the baseline again, serving two more aces and ISU was up 12-5. Jessie Janik had a 4-0 service run late in the game. ISU hit .467 with just two hitting errors in game three.
ISU had an 11-6 lead in game four but SIU went on a 5-0 run to take a 21-17 lead with the help of three Redbird hitting errors on the way to a Saluki win in game four.
Illinois State continues its road swing with a Saturday match at Evansville.
