Laura Doornbos had 16 kills and a career-high 16 digs. Staci Boyce had 13 kills and Emily Kabbes added 12. But it didn't add up to enough for Illniois State to avoid a 19-30, 30-21, 30-26, 30-21 loss at Northern Iowa Sunday in a nationally-televised match shown live on CSTV, the College Sports Television Network.
The Redbirds, 5-7, 0-2 in the Missouri Valley, jumped all over the Panthers in game one and had some great spurts in the other three games, but UNI won its 63rd straight home match with thehelp of reigning Valley Player of the year Molly O'Brien, who had 17 kills and 12 digs. UNI had a 70-55 dig advantage while ISU won the blocking battle 11-8, with Kabbes in one seven and Ashley Grubb six of ISU's blocks.
In Friday's loss at Bradley, the Redbidrs had just six team blocks in five games, but 20 service errors. In game on against UNI, the 'Birds took care of business in both of those areas, putting up five team blocks and suffering just one service error. ISU out-high UNI .417 to .154 in that first game.
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman was pleased with the aggressive start by her team.
"We came out and blocked a couple of swings right away," said Dingman. "I liked our composure tonight and we maintained that throughout the match even though the crowd was loud and Northern Iowa is a nationally-ranked team."
With Doornbos picking up two early kills, ISU went out to a 7-3 lead in game two. But a service error and a hitting error started the Panthers on an 11-1 blitz to take a 14-8 lead. The 'Birds fought right back. Three Doornbos kills backed four Boyce service points and ISU was back within 14-13. UNI reponded, though, pulling away to a 23-16 lead behind O'Brien's kills--seven in the game.
Dingman believed UNI had a favorable matchup at the net for O'Brien in the second game.
"We told our team at halftime that there was one all-American on the court, and that was Molly O'Brien," said Dingman. "They got the ball to her in that (second) game. She was the difference in game two and game four." O'Brien had four kills in the final game.
ISU tried to rebound in game three. Jessie Janik's first career service ace at Illinois State keyed an early 7-4 Redbird lead. UNI won three straight long rallies and put together an 8-1 run to take a 12-8 advantage. ISU got back within 18-17 on Grubb's kill. Panther setter Jill Arganbright tipped over the Redbird block and set Shari Vermeer for a cross-court shot which hit the far sideline and UNI started to pull away, leading 29-23. ISU didn't quit. A Doornbos/Kabbes block, a Savannah Knowles kill and another by Kabbes sliced the lead to 29-26 and forced an UNI time out. But a Kabbes attempt went wide and UNI had a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Panthers, 9-2, 2-0 in the Valley, are ranked higher than at any tmie in the history of their program. They showed they earned that agakinst the Redbirds, who were playing their 98th Top 25 opponent in the 21-year history of the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.
The Redbidrs return home for a weekend set with two other teams picked ahead of them in the Valley preseason poll--at 7 p.m. Friday against Southwest Missouri State and at 7 p.m. Saturday vs. Wichita State. The Bears (8-3, 1-0) beat the Shockers (8-4, 0-1) in a five-game set Friday in Wichita State's new Charles Koch Arena.
