Nov. 19, 2005
Box Score
Normal, Ill. -
Ashley Grubb broke the Illinois State record for kills in a season with 535, but Wichita State's .317 to .089 hitting advantage overpowered the Redbirds as the No. 23-ranked Shockers topped Illinois State 30-24, 30-20, 30-20 in the final regular-season match for the two Missouri Valley Conference teams.
The Redbirds, 17-11, 13-5, finish third in the Valley. Wichita State, 27-2, 18-0, won their 25th straight match. The Shockers clinched their second straight Valley regular-season championship last weekend and head coach Chris Lamb could not be more pleased with his team.
Lamb appreciates the fact that the Redbirds are playing without No. 1 hitter Kari Staehlin, who has mononucleosis, because WSU is missing top hitter Cori Meyer, who is ill.
"When we won the league, the girls were crying outright and have cried every time we get that great victory. They are playing hard for Cori," he said "As a team, you train a certain way because of the people in positions on your team. Your team because a dance routine and you have a pattern and when you lose a person, you have to switch that routine, which is hard. Kari is one of the best players in the conference."
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman thought her team's performance was disappointing, but believes ISU can be better for the Valley Tournament.
"This was a great opportunity for us, playing Missouri State and Wichita State in the final weekend before the tournament," said Dingman. "Yes, we are disappointed because I thought we could have played better, but I think we have a chance to practice a couple of times before we go to Cedar Falls. We can get better. Every time we've slumped before this season, we've come out better the next week."
The Redbirds open the 2005 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with a 10 a.m. meeting against the No. 6 seed Bradley. A win would match the `Birds up with Missouri State in a 5 p.m. semi-final. Wichita State, the No. 1 seed, has the other bye into the semi-finals.
Darci Vohs converted all seven of her swings to kills and had five blocks in game one as Wichita State took a 17-10 lead and held-off the Redbirds and Doornbos, who had seven kills and two digs.
Illinois State took a 7-3 lead in game two, but kills from five different players gave WSU a 6-0 spurt which the Shockers stretched to 13-4 run while taking a 16-11 lead. ISU closed to 21-18, but Elizabeth Meyers' picked up two of her seven kills in game two to help the Shockers score the next six points. Two hitting errors from the `Birds led to Wichita State's victory 30-20.
A 3-3 tie began the third game, however three hitting errors off the `Birds, two in a row, gave the Shockers a 7- 3 lead which only got larger as the game progressed. Wichita State hit .324 in game three to ISU's .024. The Shockers'.317 hitting for the match was the highest against Illinois State this season.
On Senior Day, two Redbird seniors made changes in the ISU record book. Grubb broke the single-season Redbird dig record with her fourth and final dig of game one. The Valley dig leader, she had 18 in three games just one day after setting the Redbird match record with 35 against Missouri State. With her fifth kill game one, Laura Doornbos became the sixth player in Redbird history to reach 1,400 career kills.
Doornbos led ISU with 10 kills against the Shockers.
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