Staci Boyce, Laura Doornbos and Emily Kabbes provided the power behind one of the biggest comeback wins in recent Illinois State volleyball history as the Redbirds spotted previously-unbeaten Wisconsin-Milwaukee the first two games before winning the match 26-30, 28-30, 30-22, 30-21, 15-13 in the first round of the Powerade Panther Invitational Tournament at the Klotsche Center.
ISU, 4-4, was down for the count after two games, but scrambled back to force the deciding game for the fourth straight match. The teams traded points in game five with neither team leading by more than a point until Boyce broke a 7-7 tie with a kill and UWM got a poor attack and a hitting error from a Maura McCarthy serve, putting the 'Birds up 9-7. The point-trading continued with ISU leading by either one or two until Boyce, in just her second week back playing middle, drilled a kill off the UWM block for match point.
Boyce, who moved from left side to middle last weekend, gave credit to setter Kelly Rikli, who had 60 set assists for the match, for sending the ball he way on match point.
"I felt like I could do it. I called for the ball and Kelly set me," said Boyce, who had 13 kills and hit .500 for the match. "I give her a lot of credit for setting me when I've only been back playing middle since last week."
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman thought defense and digging changed the match in Illinois State's favor. UWM hit .395 ofr the first two games, just .090 for the final three. Ashley Grubb had nine of her team-high 14 digs in ISU's winning games.
"Game two showed us what we needed to do," said Dingman, whose team is one win away from being the ninth NCAA Division I team to earn 800 all-time victories. "We needed Grubb to start digging and she did, and that picked up our defense. Plus, we had aggressive serving at the start of games from Kelly and Boyce."
The Panthers, 7-1, lost at home for only the sixth time in 71 matches in a run that dates back to 1997. They were hurt by Doornbos' 21 kills and ISU's .324 overall hitting percentage. The 'Birds had more digs (63 to 49), more team blocks (14-7) and more service aces (10-8) than the Panthers. Kabbes had a career-high four block solos among her game-high nine blocks.
ISU couldn't handle UWM's attack the first two games, but went on the attack in game three, with Rikli serving while Doornbos slammed a pair of kills for the first two points, Rikli drilled an ace for point three and some confusion on her next serve led to a faulty UWM set and a 4-0 ISU lead. The 'Birds never looked back in that game.
Similarly, Boyce opened game four at the service line, landing two aces and scoring twice more on overpass kills by Doornbos and Kabbes. McCarthy picked up two early kills in game four as ISU built a 14-7 lead and fought-off two Panther threats before Boyce had four kills and a block during an 8-0 run to put ISU up 28-17, pretty much guaranteeing game five for the fourth straight time.
"I think playing those long matches (last weekend) at Denver helped us," said Kabbes. "We'd been in the fifth game and we knew what had to be done. We knew how to finish."
Earlier Friday, Sacramento State defeated Eastern Illinois 30-25, 30-17, 30-20 despite 22 digs by EIU's Erica Berth. ISU plays both of those teams Saturday, facing Sac State, 4-4, at 11 a.m. and Eastern's Panthers, 3-5, at 4:30 p.m.
