Kendra Haselhorst blocking ... Kim Nelson Brown hammering line shots ... Julie Mueller Paska dropping in ace serves ... Abby Lewis diving for digs ... Becky Weber setting up the hitters ... No, nobody turned back the calendar in Saturdays Kelly Meisner Tournament at Redbird Arena ... it was just the Illinois State Alumni team reminding the 300 or so spectators of ISU volleyballs storied past. The Alumni went 6-0 in pool play and took Valpo to match point before falling 29-31, 30-25, 16-14 in the title match.
The Redbird varsity lost just one game all day, but that was enough to keep ISU out of the title match. The Birds took third behind steady play from senior-to-be Staci Boyce, hammering Saint Louis 30-19, 30-15. ISU won seven of eight games by an average of nine points.
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman thought Boyce was consistent all day.
Staci had a great day all around, said Dingman. Lindley (McDavid) got it going, too. Her hitting still needs to be better, but it was better this weekend than last. Ashley (Grubb) is playing with an abdominal muscle injury, but still made a difference for us.
The format featured two-game matches rally-scored to 30, with individual game results determining pool play. After pool play, the teams played a position round of best two-of-three matches. Haselhorst (class of 01), Nelson Brown (94), Lewis (02), Weber (02) and Paska (85) got help from Erin Jones (03) and Sarah Pieper (00) all day, and for one match from Jeanette Newberry (93).
A split with Valparaiso and a point-differential tiebreaker kept the Redbirds out of the title match. Illinois State downed Truman State 2-0 in the opening match and thumped the Peoria Cougars--a team of players from Illinois Central College--by a comfortable margin. But Valpo raced to a 12-4 edge early in game one and kept control.
We had four freshmen on the floor at the start of the first game against Valpo and we got down 7-1, said Dingman. Im pleased with how we regrouped at the start of the second game, and the way we responded when they got close.
Illinois State could have won the tiebreaker if the Redbirds could have won game two by nine or more. ISU led 24-14 when Normal Community High School graduate Michelle Robinson served six points in a 7-0 Crusader run which got VU to the championship match even though ISU won that game 30-26.
Nelson Browns four late kills helped the alums win the first game against Valpo. After the Crusaders took game two, the Redbird Alums rode Haselhorsts kills to a 14-13 lead. But Robinson dropped a kill inside the left corner to start Valpo on the way to three straight points.
