Laura Doornbos smashed three of her team-high 13 kills during a late game-one comeback to lead Illinois State to a 32-30, 30-27, 30-20 in the first round of the State Farm-Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Wichitas Charles Koch Arena. Doornbos led four players in double figures in kills for Illinois State while Savannah Knowles and Jessie Janik had 19 digs apiece to lead the Redbirds to a first-round tournament win.
The Redbirds beat the Bluejays for the third time this season, the ninth time in a row and the 21st time in 24 meetings. Illinois State, 22-8, advances to meet No. 1 seed Wichita State in the 7:30 p.m. semifinal Friday night. Creighton fell to 18-11 with its third straight loss.
Knowles and Kari Staehlin had 11 kills and Emily Kabbes added 10 to go with a game-high five blocks. Ashley Grubb had 15 digs for Illinois State and Kelly Rikli set an offense which out-hit CU .184 to .091. Kelly Goc led Creighton with 14 kills and Carolyn Decker had 17 digs.
The Redbirds stole game one from a Creighton team which served for game point. An Illinois State service error and three hitting errors in a row helped Creighton snag a 5-3 lead in game one and the Redbirds were in a chase mode until the Birds got ties at 18-18 and 19-19. Behind Gocs hitting, the Jays spurted to a 26-22 lead, but the Birds battled back with some good defense and kills by Savannah Knowles and Kari Staehlin to within 27-26, but Goc helped get CU to game point at 29-27.
Then Doornbos, a first-team all-conference selection, took over. She slammed three straight kills of the Bluejay block and ISU took a 30-29 lead. After a CU block for a point tied it, Kabbes took a quick set from Rikli and smashed it off a defender to put the Birds at game point, which came on the next play, a Kabbes-Doornbos block.
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman thought winning game one was critical.
I felt that game one was doing to decide the match, said Dingman. Give Creighton credit. They came out early and showed a lot of heart, but we battled back at the end.
In game two, ISU roared out at the start. Paige White served Illinois State to a 7-1 lead with the help of three Rikli kills. CU got within 11-5, but Grubb put herself on the service line with a kill out of the middle and tacked-on four more service points, including an ace, and ISU led 16-5. Then Goc went to the line and helped the Jays score eight in a row to come within 16-13. The Jays got within 20-18 before ISU got to a 29-24 edge. The Jays didnt quit, picking up three more points to cut the lead to 29-27. Staehlin smashed an overpass to put the Birds up 2-0 in games.
Knowles had five kills and a block in the first 14 ISU points in game three as the Birds led 13-6. Later in the game, Knowles had a five-point service stand with three of those on Doornbos kills.
Doornbos liked ISUs hitting balance.
Game one and two we were adjusting to see what they would do on defense, said Doornbos. In game three we knew more about what they were doing and it helped. We had a lot of hitters who were successful today and thats fun.
Dingman agreed.
Balance has helped us succeed this season, said Dingman. Kelly does a great job of getting the ball to our hitters. They have to get the kills, but she really does a great job of getting them in position.
In the first match of the day, No. 3 seed SMS downed No. 6 seed Indiana State 30-14, 30-17, 28-30, 30-23 behind 15 kills by Katie Werges and 21 digs by Jane Parker. The Sycamores finish 12-15 and the Bears, 22-9, advanced to meet No. 2 seed UNI in the semifinals.
