Laura Doornbos had 23 kills and Illinois State out-scored Northern Iowa for the match 125-119, but Northern Iowa emerged with a five-game win 30-28, 30-26, 21-30, 23-30, 15-11 in a Missouri Valley Conference volleyball match Friday at West Gym.
The Panthers, 15-6, 8-2 won for the eighth straight time and avenged a 3-2 loss to the Redbirds last month in Normal. The Redbirds, 14-6, 7-3, dropped their eight straight in West Gym despite out-hitting the Panthers .319 to .250 for the match. ISU had more kills, 78-76, with Emily Kabbes added 14 and Savannah Knowles and Ashley Grubb landing 12 kills each.
Shari Vermeer topped the Panthers with 25 kills, including five in the deciding game of the 2-hour, 13-minute marathon before 1,785 at West Gym.
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman thought both teams put forth a great effort, but the Panthers made plays at the end of the match.
It was just a great match and both teams were going for it, said Dingman. Shari Vermeer had an incredible hitting night. Their crowd was into it. But still, Im proud of how we fought back and made the plays to get the opportunity in game five.
Doornbos had six kills and the Redbirds hit .350 in game one, but UNI hit just a bit better, with 22 kills and a .400 mark. ISU led 22-18 on an Ashley Grubb kill before the Panthers rebounded behind a Rachael Tink kill to win seven of the next nine points to take the lead for good.
Illinois State took an 11-9 lead early in game two thanks to four kills by Emily Kabbes, but the Panthers responded with a 5-0 run punctuated by a Trista Humpal service ace to take a 14-11 lead. ISU never was able to catch up despite out-hitting the Panthers .286 to .257 for the game.
ISU had a 10-9 lead early in game three before a Kari Staehlin kill and a Knowles service ace were the bookends on five straight Redbird points. The Birds withstood a late UNI charge because Knowles hammered five kills in the final 11 Redbird points. Again, late kills by Knowles helped the Birds take the momentum into game five with a 30-23 game-four win as UNI faced four Redbird blocks and hit just .100 in game four.
The Birds jumped ahead behind kills by Doornbos, Grubb and Kabbes to take a 7-4 lead. But UNI rallied behind a Danielle Brazda kill and two by Rachael Tink to score five straight points and take a 10-7 lead. ISU couldnt put back-to-back points together after that.
ISU won the digging battle 53-51 with Knowles and Paige White picking up 12 each. Kelly Rikli had 63 set assists, a career-high 9 kills and 8 digs to come within a kill and two digs of her first career triple-double.
Dingman thinks the Redbirds can take a lot of positives forward from the match.
We did a lot of things well tonight and thats what we want to focus on, said Dingman. Sure, there were some errors, but, for the most part, players were trying to go for it and make big plays. Reggie Miller is one of my favorite basketball players and when he was a youngster, his dad said if you want to be a big star you have to take big shots. I think our team believes that, too.
The Redbirds play Saturday night at Bradley.
