Ashley Grubb had a season-high 18 kills to go with 15 digs, five set assists and four blocks, but it wasnt enough for Illinois State as Notre Dame dropped the Redbirds in five games, 30-25, 34-32, 25-30, 23-30, 15-10 Wednesday at the Joyce Athletic and Convocation Center.
The Redbirds got behind in games thanks to nine hitting errors in game one. ISU battled back in game two, one of the closest ever played in a series full of close games. After 25 ties and 11 lead changes, the Irish won game two when freshman Adrianna Stasiuk dropped a service ace on the back line.
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman thought that point told the early story for ISU.
he eighth time in 17 meetings the Birds and Irish have played five games in the series, now led by Notre Dame 11-6.
Game two told the tale. We waited for somebody else to make a point and that cost us, said Dingman, whose Redbirds fell to 12-5 with their third straight loss. We waited for the line judge to make a call. We needed to make a play ourselves.
Grubb had five kills in game three and five more in game four as the Redbird defense produced more than 20 digs in each of those games. The defense helped ISU take command late in game three, storming back from a 19-18 deficit with 12 of the last 18 points.
Grubb was great, she practices and plays with a lot of courage, said Dingman. We set Grubb a lot more in game three and four and she kept us in it.
Notre Dame, 9-5, won its fourth in a row this season and its seventh straight over Illinois State. The Redbirds won the digging battle 90-72 as Jessie Janik had 20 to lead all players, Savannah Knowles added 19, Paige White 17 and Kelly Rikli 15 to Grubbs total. Notre Dame had a 25-11 block advantage with four players in double figures.
"We have some things to work on," said Dingman. "But we're going to be happy to see our court and our fans in Redbird Arena this weekend."
The teams matched at 75 kills. Knowles had 17 and Kari Staehlin and Laura Doornbos had 14 each for ISU. Lauren Kelbley led Notre Dame with 18.
The Redbirds come home this weekend to
