Kelly Rikli came within a kill of her first career triple-double with 9 kills, 19 digs and 52 set assists to lead Illinois State to a 30-19, 26-30, 30-23, 30-24 in a Missouri Valley Conference volleyball match Friday at Carson Center.
Rikli was one of five Redbirds in double figures in digs led by Paige Whites 21 to go with four service aces. Savannah Knowles led ISU with 16 kills along with her 16 digs. ISU had a 96-68 dig edge and a 67-53 kill advantage, but, after game one, Evansville, which has no senior starters, gave ISU a battle.
Evansville really came out strong after game one, said Redbird coach Sharon Dingman whose Redbirds maintained their perfect record against Evansville, now a 22-0. We knew we would have to stay focused and be, like we are, the more mature team that has been in more of those kinds of situations.
The Redbirds, 18-8 overall, 10-5 in the Valley, came out with fire. Back-to-back Ashley Grubb kills and a Jessie Janik service ace highlighted a 6-0 Redbird run with Janik on the service line to put the Birds up 9-3. Laura Doornbos had six kills without an error as ISU out-hit UE .353 to .000 in the first game and out-dug the Aces 20-11 in that game.
Evansville turned the tables in game two. UE opened an 11-4 lead early with the help of some Redbird hitting errors. ISU rallied behind four Paige White service points to bounce back to within 12-10. ISU came within two points at 15-13, 18-16 and 19-17, but UE reeled-off eight unanswered points including three by Heather Gray off the bench and the Aces raced to a 26-17 edge. The Birds rallied to trim the lead to 29-26 thanks to Whites serving and Emily Kabbes kills, but UE evened the match on one serve.
ISU won game three by capturing several long, scrappy rallies thanks to 21 team digs. Rikli thought the difference was that the Birds copied Evansvilles approach.
We felt like we could learn from Evansville. They lost bad in game one and came out with a lot of energy. We needed to do that in game three, said Rikli. Evansville was a team that came out trying to get into the conference tournament and we knew they would give us a fight.
Doornbos thought Illinois State's seniors--Rikli and White--made a difference with their defense.
"Kelly did a great job tonight digging," said Dingman. "Paige is so fun because it doesnt matter how many balls she has to dig in a rally she is always composed and makes the plays."
The Aces, 12-15, 5-9 in the Valley, got 13 kills from Megan Spurlock and 17 digs from Sarah McClellan.
Illinois State clinched a berth in the State Farm-Missouri Valley Conference for the 23rd straight season. The Redbirds also are guaranteed to remain the only team in Missouri Valley Conference history to have a winning league record in all 22 seasons of round-robin play.
Illinois State continues its final road swing of the regular season with a 3 p.m. Saturday match at Southern Illinois.
