Laura Doornbos hammered 16 kills and Paige White had 14 digs to lead Illinois State to a 30-22, 30-20, 30-27 win over Creighton in the Omaha Civic Auditorium. The victory allowed Illinois State to take sole possession of fourth place in the Missouri Valley Conference.
With eight wins in their last 10 league starts, Illinois State, 15-13, 8-7 in conference play, is one of the Valleys hottest teams, moving into fourth place and a step closer to solidifying a State Farm-Missouri Valley Conference Tournament bid. A win Saturday at Drake, a 3-1 loser to Indiana State on Friday, puts the 'Birds into the tournament.
Ashley Grubb and Savannah Knowles notched nine kills each with Emily Kabbes at eight and Staci Boyce with seven. Whites defense not only led a 54-38 dig advantage, but impressed coach Sharon Dingman with passing and coverage off the Creighton block as well.
A lot of our kills came off transition out of our defense and Paige couldnt have been bigger, said Dingman. She passed well and covered our hitters well and had 14 digs. Paige really did a job.
She wasnt alone. ISU hit .333 in game one and .562 in game two with 20 kills in 32 attacks.
By sweeping the season series from Creighton, the Redbirds all-but-assured themselves that the current road trip wont be their last this season. At 8-7 in the Valley, ISU still is battling for position with three other teams for the fourth, fifth and sixth positions in the six-team tournament Nov. 28-29 in Springfield, Mo. But the win over Creighton, 10-16, 7-8, assures the Redbirds of head-to-head tiebreaker advantages over both the Jays and Indiana State.
The Redbird block took early control of game one. Four of the first 14 ISU points came on blocks and the Birds stayed in control after an early 6-0 run served by Doornbos. Boyce had three of those blocks and Grubb had four kills in four attempts as ISU won with only 12 kills in the first game.
Doornbos had five kills early in game two and ISU took a 19-10 lead before Creighton closed to 23-19. But Grubb and Kabbes launched back-to-back kills as ISU finished on a 7-1 run. Creighton came out fighting in game three and led 21-17 before a Redbird time out started another fast finish. Grubb, Boyce and Knowles put together a string of kills during a 6-0 ISU run to take a 23-21 lead. The Jays had no answer. Dingman thought the third game showed just how far her team has come after a 5-10 start.
I was most pleased with game three and the way we battled back, said Dingman. Creighton came out and worked hard. They wanted to get this to game five, but we stayed composed, started blocking and finished strong.
Leah Ratzlaff led CU with 14 kills in the match and Katy Grady, back after five weeks out with a stress fracture in her leg, had 10 kills.
The Birds meet Drake Saturday night in the Knapp Center.
