Kelly Rikli contributed a career-high 14 kills and dished-out 29 set assists to lead Illinois State past Bradley 30-21, 30-20, 30-25 in a Missouri Valley Conference volleyball match at Robertson Field House.
The Redbirds, 15-6 overall, 8-3 in the Valley, expanded their lead in the all-time series against Bradley to 32-6. The win guarantees Illinois State its 30th .500 or better season record in 32 seasons of recorded volleyball history.
The Braves, 7-15, 1-10, got 19 of their 37 total kills from Lindsay Stalzer, but fell victim to Illinois States 12-8 team block edge as Emily Kabbes had a hand in eight and Ashley Grubb in six. ISU also had a 52-40 edge in digs behind Paige Whites 23the most by an Illinois State player in a three-game match in at least 13 years.
Rikli saw openings and continued to put up attacks against the Braves, hitting .737 with 14 kills in 19 attempts without an error. With kills and set assists, she was in on 43 of ISUs 45 kills in the match.
I like to do it a couple of times early to see if they pick it up and tonight, they never really picked it up, said Rikli. Lately every one of our hitters has been on and that puts pressure on the defense to try and keep all the hitters covered. It gives me opportunities and I like to attack.
Whites four service points helped the Birds break open a tight game one. ISU led 18-17 before a Bradley service error put White on the line. Two Kabbes-Laura Doornbos blocks, a Doornbos kill and a White service ace later and ISU led 23-17. A 12-4 Redbird finish to the game was punctuated by an Amber Rogers service acethe sixth time this season the back-up middle blocker has scored a game-winning point. Whites seven digs and Kabbes four blocks led a tough game-one Redbird defense.
With game two tied at 5-5, the Birds put together a 10-1 sprint which Grubb finished with back-to-back blocks and a kill and ISU led 15-6. ISU hit .400 for the game, including Riklis 4 kills in 5 tries.
Rikli called her own number three times in the first eight points of game three as Illinois State led 10-8 when, after a 10-minute delay, White was awarded a point on a service ace because of an illegal substitution against Bradley. The delay helped the Braves pick up some needed momentum and Bradley took a 19-18 lead on the second of back-to-back ISU hitting errors. The Braves stretched the edge to 21-19 but another Rikli kill started a 7-1 Redbird outburst and ISU led 26-22. She had seven for the game to reach 14, five more than her previous career best.
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman appreciated the large number of Redbird fans among the 781 in attendance for keeping her team going during the break.
When our crowd started chanting I-S-U, I-S-U during the break, it picked us up, said Dingman, who appreciated her teams defensive work. We needed to make it hard for Bradley to score. That was one thing we wanted to change for our defense and I think we did a good job.
The Birds come home from the road trip to play their final non-conference match of the season at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Northern Illinois in Redbird Arena.
