Savannah Knowles 17 kills and 14 digs led Illinois State to a 30-18, 30-26, 29-31 victory in the second round of the 2004 Barker GMC Classic at Redbird Arena. Knowles led four Redbird players in double figures as Kari Staehlin had 14, Emily Kabbes and Laura Doornbos had 11 apiece.
The Redbird win sets up a 7 p.m. showdown with Iowa for the championship of the Barker GMC Classic. In the first match of the day, the Hawkeyes downed Denver 30-28, 33-31, 30-20.
Sarah Poling led the Raiders, 0-3, with 14 kills against ISU. Taylor Gerlach had 20 digs.
Knowles had five kills in the first 17 points as the Redbirds built a 19-9 lead in game one and cruised to victory. The Raiders took an 8-7 lead in game two before Ashley Grubb came off the Redbird bench to key a 7-1 ISU run that turned out to be the difference. Neither team led by more than three points in the third game as Wright State scrambled through long rallies for the final two points.
Wright State put some pressure on us in game three and four, said Redbird coach Sharon Dingman. I like the way we persevered.
With WSU leading 25-23 in game four, Doornbos drilled a kill to put setter Kelly Rikli at the service line. Rikli served the next four points and ISU had a 28-25 lead. Two more Doornbos kills and the Redbirds had their 10th straight home-court victory in a streak dating back to last season.
Again, Dingman went to the bench often in the match, with 11 players seeing action.
Right now, thats pretty much the way its going to be, said Dingman. Today, it was Kristin Dziubla and Maura McCarthy and Lindley along with our back-row specialists. We can give players a breather.
Wright State and Denver, both 0-3 overall and 0-2 in the tournament, meet at 5 p.m. in their final match.
