Freshman Maura McCarthy will join the Illinois State volleyball starting lineup this weekend in place of injured outside hitter and Redbird kill leader Laura Doornbos as the Redbirds take on Southern Illinois Friday and Evansville Saturday in Missouri Valley Conference road matches.
Doornbos suffered an ankle injury in the final game of Tuesdays four-game win over DePaul at Redbird Arena. Illinois State coach Sharon Dingman isnt expecting McCarthy to single-handedly make up for Doornbos contributions. She believes sophomore right-side hitter Ashley Grubb and freshman outside hitter Savannah Knowles can help take up the slack.
Any time you have four kills per game on the bench, you are a different team, said Dingman. But we talked about this, and, if Ashley and Savannah can get us one more kill per game, and we can just get two per game from Maura, thats the difference.
And, there are other ways to win games, too.
You can score points serving and blocking and well be looking to do more of both of those, said Dingman, whose team snapped a five-match losing streak with its 3-1 win over DePaul. Dingman saw some bright spots, particularly in games three and four. She thinks she saw her team stop pressing.
In games three and four, we looked much more comfortable on the court, said Dingman, who believes that part of the problem during the recent losing streak was players trying to do too much. I think the team was relaxed and played that way in game four. I think were learning that we have to let the game come to us ... there are no 30-point plays.
McCarthy has played both left side and right side for the Birds this season as a back-up. After Doornbos had to be helped off the court, Redbird setter Kelly Rikli put McCarthy right to work in game four. Rikli set the first ball for McCarthy after the ensuing serve, and McCarthy responded with a kill. That gave the Birds a 16-7 lead which they eventually stretched into a 30-15 game four win.
When we lined up (after the injury), I could hear the DePaul players calling out the new hitter as if they didnt expect the ball to go to Maura, said Rikli. So, we went to Maura and she got the kill.
Like the Redbirds, 6-10, 0-5 in the Valley, the Salukis, 4-13, 0-6, are looking for their first conference win. Coach Sonya Locke has a young team coming off a 3-1 win over Tennessee Tech on Tuesday. SIU lost eight of its top 10 players from last years 23-10 team.
Southern is young, but when they get it together, theyre good, said Dingman. They have some talent.
New coach Mike Swan is building at Evansville, 5-12, 1-5. Since a four-game win in their conference opener Sept. 19 at Drake, the Aces have dropped seven matches in a row. UE is hitting just .157 for the season and averages just 12.22 kills per game heading into the Aces Friday match vs. Indiana State.
