Laura Doornbos had a career-high 7 aces and led all players with 25.5 points, but Bradley, led by Lindsey Stalzers 17 kills, pulled away in the fifth and deciding game to top Illinois State 30-26, 22-30, 31-29, 23-30, 15-11. It was Illinois States sixth five-game match in their last seven outings.
In the decisive game, Bradley took advantage of two hitting errors and a service error to take a quick 5-1 lead, four of those on service points by Ashley Vance. Ashley Grubbs service stand brought ISU back from an 8-4 deficit to 8-7, but a service error stopped the run. Bradley stretched that lead to 12-8 with an Ann Fra nklin kill and service point. Match point was a dig over the net by Bradley setter Vance which fell harmlessly on the sideline.
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman thought the service errors were critical. Although ISUs 20 were just four more than Bradleys total, the Redbirds came at some critical times, including at game point in game three and when ISU served for the tie in game five.
Net serves dont give the opponent a chance to make a mistake, said Dingman. We made far too many of them. Neither team passed or served well, but we opened the window in a couple of games and Bradley came through.
The Redbirds (5-6, 0-1) were within a point of leading two games to one after. ISU had serve for game point in game three, leading 29-26, but the Braves (3-9, 1-0) fought that point off and went on a 5-0 run to steal the game from the Birds. Ann Franklin, who played little in the first two games, had seven kills in game three, including two and an ace during the 5-0 spurt.
ISU was leading game four 4-2 when Bradleys Stalzer went back to serve. The official scorekeeper blew the horn and play was stopped for more than 10 minutes while officials tried to determine how to proceed. The score remained 4-2, but Illinois State coach Sharon Dingman protested the match at that point. Briony Hammett was the server after the delay.
Maura McCarthy had three service points to help the Birds take an 11-6 lead. With the score 15-8 ISU, Bradley was out of rotation again. This time, ISU received a point and Doornbos tacked on five more service points, finishing with her fifth and sixth aces of the match, to put ISU ahead 21-9. That lead grew to 26-14 before Bradley had a six-point spurt to cut the lead in half, but ISU held on to force game five.
The Redbirds take on No. 6 Northern Iowa at 6 p.m. Sunday in the West Gym at Cedar Falls. The game will be telecast nationally by College Sports Television (CSTV) as part of the national match of the week called Sunday Night Spikes.
