Upon further review, the 2003 Illinois State volleyball season may have been even better than the 19-14 finish; at least, if the 2003 NCAA Tournament field is any indication.
Coach Sharon Dingmans Birds were 5-10 in early October, but seven of the first eight Redbird losses this season came against teams which are playing in the 64-team NCAA Tournament. Overall, the Birds played 11 of their 33 matches against teams in the tournament, including Illinois, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Northern Iowa (twice) and SMS (three times)all of whom finished the regular season ranked in the Top 25 in the nation.
In fact, the Redbirds were 7-6 in non-conference play, but all six of those non-league defeats came against NCAA Tournament teams. Then, Dingmans squad caught fire with a six-match winning streak followed by an eight-match win streak which included a victory over Northern Iowa, the No. 12 team in the nation and, a week later, the State Farm-Missouri Valley Conference Tournament champions.
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman thinks the demanding early schedule actually helped to mature her youthful squad, which featured three sophomores (Emily Kabbes, Laura Doornbos and Ashley Grubb) and two freshmen (Savannah Knowles and Jessie Janik) among the eight regulars in the rotation.
I think our scheduling early helped us finish with 14 wins in our last 18. That helped us turn the corner and win those matches in the second half and finally beat the No. 12 team in the country, said Dingman. I think its exciting to look ahead to next year because of that experience.
The tradition of tough volleyball schedules runs deep at Illinois State. The Birds five-game win over No. 12 Northern Iowa was the 100th time in 22 seasons since volleyball has had a national poll that an Illinois State team has played a nationally-ranked team. Illinois State has met 49 of the 64 teams in this years NCAA Tournament at one time or another, including No. 1 seeds Hawaii, Florida, USC and Pepperdine.
Dingman, who is still working on the 2004 slate, is committed to playing the best competition she can find.
I think Ive shown that, in my philosophy of scheduling, were going to play that kind of schedule, said Dingman. And I think this years team showed they could be competitive against those teams. Theres a process to building a nationally-competitive program and the schedule is a big part of it.
The Birds open the 2004 season Sept. 1 at Illinois, before coming home to play the Barker GMC Classic in Redbird Arena.
