Oct. 17, 2005
Box Score
Normal, Ill. -
Illinois State fell to No. 9 Notre Dame (16-1) in four games Monday evening at Redbird Arena. The Redbirds (11-7) lost 30-24, 27-30, 30-24 and 30-20, and saw their winning streak end at five matches. The `Birds have now lost seven straight to Notre Dame.
"They are obviously number nine in the country for a reason," Illinois State head coach Sharon Dingman said. "They did a lot of blocking. I didn't expect to get blocked one-on-one so many times, but we did have more kills and digs than them. I thought we executed our game plan really well overall. Notre Dame just executed better. I think this is the best team that we have played against this year."
The first game began with the `Birds and Notre Dame going back forth until mid-way through when the Irish pulled ahead for good to win 30-23. Notre Dame finished the match with just one attack error. Savannah Knowles and Kari Staehlin lead the Redbirds with five kills apiece and Ashley Tarutis had a game-high five kills for the Irish.
The second game played out much like the first except the final outcome was different. Notre Dame started out with the lead, and it took longer for a leader to emerge. ISU took the lead at 26-20, the largest lead they held all evening. Notre Dame then rattled off four straight points, but ISU held on to win 30-27. Notre Dame's loss in the second game was just its tenth defeat all season.
The score went back and forth in the third game as well until Notre Dame pulled ahead to stay at 9-8. Illinois State had six service errors in the third game, which helped the Irish defeat the `Birds 30-24. The Redbirds fell in game three despite having a better hitting percentage.
Laura Doornbos, who led the `Birds with 17 kills, helped ISU stay even in game four with four straight kills for the `Birds. However, Notre Dame again managed to gain the upper hand with the aid of seven blocks and 16 kills.
Adrianna Stasiuk finished with a match high 20 kills, while teammates Lauren Brewster and Ellen Heintzman each had 10 kills. Brewster also added eight block assists for the Irish.
Notre Dame, which extended its winning streak to nine matches, finished with 21.5 blocks, which tied the Redbird Arena match record set on Oct. 19, 2001 against Drake.
"I am happy with the way we played," Dingman said. "We can really take a lot from this match. I hope that our players having hit against them (Notre Dame's blockers), they will see their skills and learn from them and improve our one-on-one blocking abilities."
Illinois State returns to Missouri Valley Conference play this weekend on the road Friday at Creighton and Saturday at Drake.
