March 24, 2005
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State coach Sharon Dingman and Peoria Cougars coach Sue Sinclair usually have their teams meet on the volleyball court during the spring season. When they heard University High School graduate and USA Olympian Ogonna Nnamani was speaking on the Illinois State campus, they decided to schedule their scrimmage around her visit. So the Redbirds and Cougars are meeting at 4 p.m. Monday in the North Gym in Horton Field House.
After about two hours on the court, the Redbirds and Cougars will go to the Bone Student Center Ballroom to hear Nnamani, who led U-High to back-to-back IHSA Class A titles in 1999 and 2000, then led Stanford to the 2004 NCAA championship.
The scrimmage will feature the nine returning Redbird players against Sinclair's Peoria team which includes a pair of future Redbirds: Manoela Vieira Da Cunha, a 5-11 outside hitter who is a native of Brazil, and 5-5 defensive specialist Kelly Waterstraat, who was part of successful teams at Bloomington High School.
Dingman calls it a great opportunity for all.
"Our fans will enjoy seeing Manoela and Kelly, as well as our returning players," said Dingman. "Sue and I talked and decided to plan this scrimmage around Ogonna's visit. It will be great for all of us to get a chance to interact with her."
Nnamani's speech is part of Women's History Month at Illinois State. It includes a question and answer session and a photo/autograph session. The event, like the volleyball scrimmage, is free and open to the public.
The Redbirds' spring schedule also includes an April 2 tournament at Northern Illinois, an April 9 play date at Indiana and an April 16 tournament at Purdue.
With Kelly Rikli's eligibility complete, the Redbird setting chores have fallen to junior outside hitter Ashley Grubb for the spring (freshman Erin Lindsey will take over this fall). But, with offensive powers Laura Doornbos, Emily Kabbes, Savannah Knowles and Kari Staehlin all returning with Grubb, Dingman believes that her team's blocking and back-row defense will be the focus this spring.
"We need to improve our blocking, passing, digging and ballhandling," said Dingman, whose team won 22 matches and finished second in the Missouri Valley Conference last year, but fell short of qualifying for an NCAA Tournament bid. "I think our players are pretty committed to doing that this spring. "
2005 Illinois State Spring Volleyball Schedule
March 28 4 p.m. Scrimmage vs. Peoria Cougars Horton Field House North Gym
April 2 8:30 a.m. Northern Illinois Tournament DeKalb, Ill.
(NIU, Western Illinois, Western Michigan, DePaul, Lewis, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Illinois State)
April 9 Play Date at Indiana Bloomington, Ind.
(practice in the morning, scrimmage in afternoon)
April 16 Purdue Tournament West Lafayette, Ind.
(Purdue, Auburn, Michigan State, Ball State, Pittsburgh, Ohio U., Akron, IUPUI, Illinois State)
