Sept. 2, 2005
Box Score
Normal, Ill. -
Laura Doornbos missed much of the season-opening match with Illinois because her hitting was off. But she rebounded with one of the most efficient hitting performances of her career with 9 kills in 15 attempts to lead Illinois State to a 30-20, 30-27, 30-23 win over Kent State Friday in the first round of the Barker GMC Classic at Redbird Arena.
Redbird head coach Sharon Dingman was proud of the way Doornbos stepped up.
"I am so proud of Laura," Dingman said. "These last couple days at practice we were really seeing what were used to seeing, she had a lot of bounce in her step and it was nice seeing it here tonight."
Doornbos, who is one of only 14 players in Redbird history with 1,000 career kills, felt good about hitting the ball well on Friday.
"Sharon has a high expectation of our hitters and I have a high expectation of myself, so this week I was just working on getting back on my game," said Doornbos.
Doornbos had hitting help from Kari Staehlin, who led all Redbirds with 10 kills. The Redbird blockers had a 10-4 team advantage, with Emily Kabbes and Lindley McDavid each having a hand in seven of those blocks.
Illinois State, 1-1, has a leg up in trying to defend its 2004 Barker GMC Classic title thanks to a .333 to .189 team hitting edge against Kent State. The Golden Flashes, 0-2, were led by Danielle Holt with 15 kills and Sarah Wilber with 13. KSU actually had more kills than Illinois State, but 14 service errors helped put KSU behind in each game.
Dingman acknowledged the kill difference, but favors quality over quantity.
"Only 38 kills but the hitting percentage was great," said Dingman. "Matches like this show it's not the amount of kills. We flexed our muscles tonight. They have some people that can hit the ball, but I thought our blocking and attacking were both very physical. Laura makes a difference in that. She is that physical presence out there."
Kabbes didn't have a kill in game one, but her eight service points were the difference as ISU rode five kills by Savannah Knowles and four by Staehlin to take the lead in the match. Game two was knotted at 26-26 when Kabbes' kill gave the Redbirds the lead. She combined with McDavid to block for point 28 and Erin Lindsey's service ace put the `Birds at game point. ISU hit .400 to Kent's .350 in game two.
The `Birds jumped to an early lead and never trailed in game three. When a Staehlin kill made it 19-10, Dingman started substituting, using 13 players in the final game.
In the first match of the tournament Caron Blotch set a balanced attack which put five Hilltoppers in double figures in kills to lead Western Kentucky to a 30-21, 30-26, 19-30, 30-18 win over Western Illinois. Blotch had 11 kills and 49 set assists to keep WKU, 3-0, undefeated for the season. Amy Sauerwein led WIU, 0-1, with 13 kills as the Hilltoppers out-hit the Westerwinds .263 to .173 for the match.
In Saturday's early action, Western Kentucky meets Kent State at 10 a.m., followed by Illinois State vs. Western Illinois at noon. The final set of the round robin tournament pits Western Illinois vs. Kent State at 5 p.m. and the Redbirds vs. Western Kentucky at 7 p.m. Saturday.
