Emily Kabbes became only the fourth Illinois State player to hit .800 in a match as Kabbes and her teammates hit an all-time Redbird single-match record .542 for the match on the way to a 30-15, 30-19, 30-21 thumping of South Florida in the second round of the Western Kentucky Invitational.
Kabbes hit .800 by converting 12 of 15 kills without an error, joining Julie Mueller Paska, Andi Hardwick and her sister, Jenny Kabbes as the only ISU players to hit above .800. The .542 team hitting percentage came on 56 kills in 96 attempts with just four errors. The old record was .536, set by a Paska-led team in 1983 against Illinois.
Laura Doornbos led ISU with 15 kills and Savannah Knowles added 11. South Florida, 2-2, didnt have a block in the match as freshman Kari Staehlin converted 9 of 13 kills for the Birds.
The Redbirds, 4-2, finished game one with an overpowering 13-1 run fueled by eight Laura Doornbos service points and three more by Amber Rogers. The Redbird middles, Emily Kabbes and Kari Staehlin, each converted four-of-four swings for kills. USF hit just .103 as Doornbos had a hand in five of seven Redbird blocks.
The middles did much of the damage for the Redbirds. Amber Rogers killed two of five tries off the bench to give the Redbird middles a combined 23 kills in 45 attempts without an error.
In the first match of the day, undefeated Western Kentucky rolled over winless Southeast Missouri State 30-17, 30-16, 30-23. The Toppers, 6-0, had a .318 to .106 hitting advantage for the match over the Red Hawks, 0-7.
ISU plays SEMO at 3 p.m. Saturday to complete the Redbirds tournament stay. USF meets Western Kentucky at 5 p.m.
