Drake and Creighton Match Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Oct. 26, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -- The Illinois State volleyball team will look to extend its season-high three-match winning streak when it travels Des Moines, Iowa and Omaha, Neb., this weekend for two key Missouri Valley Conference matches against Drake and Creighton, respectively.
The `Birds (12-10, 6-5 MVC) haven't played a match since Oct. 22, when they clinched a 3-0 weekly slate with a sweep of visiting Evansville. Illinois State also defeated Valparaiso (Oct. 17) and Southern Illinois (Oct. 20) to jump start the streak. Overall, the Redbirds have been on the winning end of eight of their last 10 matches.
Head coach Sharon Dingman believes her team is playing their best volleyball of the season, and is primed to make a run at moving up the standings in the second half of the Valley season.
"We are where we want to be right now," said Dingman. "We beat three good volleyball teams last week, and really used our athleticism to overmatch all three of our opponents. We thought from the beginning of the season that our athleticism would be what would cause match-up problems for teams. Now, we're combining that athleticism with a much better flow of volleyball, and that has really given our players a lot of confidence."
Illinois State owns a 43-5 all-time advantage over Drake (4-17, 1-9 MVC). Dating back to the 1996 season, the Redbirds have captured 21 consecutive decisions against the Bulldogs. Senior Megan Veltman is having a strong senior season, ranking 11th in the Valley in kills-per-game (3.01). She was held to just seven kills in the previous meeting between the `Birds and Drake, a 3-1 win for ISU at Redbird Arena (Sept. 30). While the Bulldogs will finish under .500 for the 10th consecutive season, they recently snapped a 10-match losing streak by upsetting visiting Creighton last weekend.
"It will be an interesting match in Des Moines," said Dingman, who owns a 25-2 all-time record against Drake and Creighton since arriving at Illinois State in 2000. "Drake is coming off their first Valley win, and they accomplished it against one of the favorites to win the league. So it will be interesting to see their confidence level the next time they take the floor after a big win like that. We struggled in game one against them last time, and we need to make sure we don't have that same type of start on the road."
Creighton (15-6, 7-3 MVC) was tied for the Valley lead for the first five weeks of the league slate before dropping the decision to Drake last weekend. The Bluejays lead the conference in both assists (14.94 apg) and kills-per-game (16.40). The duo of Kelly Goc (3.88 kpg) and Amanda Cvejdlik (3.74 kpg) ranks No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, in the league statistics. In the Sept. 29 meeting at Redbird Arena, Creighton fought off an Illinois State surge in games two and three to record a 3-1 victory, their first win over the Redbirds since the 2001 season.
"It will also be interesting to see what Creighton's mentality will be after the loss to Drake last Saturday," said Dingman. "I'm sure they are chomping at the bit to play again. But they (Creighton) have a really solid volleyball team. They have switched up their personnel a little bit due to injury, but their middle blockers are still some of the best in our conference. Kelly Goc is one of the premier middles in the Valley, and has had the season to prove it. We will have to contain her as much as possible."
