Oct. 28, 2006
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OMAHA, Neb. -- Illinois State setter Erin Lindsey recorded her first career triple double with 53 set assists, 10 kills and 12 digs, but host Creighton used a combined 47 kills between Kelly Goc and Jessica Houts to defeat the Redbirds in four games (28-30, 30-28, 30-23 and 34-32) for the second time this season here at the Civic Center Saturday night. The Bluejays clinched the season sweep over the Redbirds in the win for the first time since the 1999 season.
Illinois State drops to 13-11 overall, and 7-6 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Creighton improves to 17-6 and 9-3.
M.C. Richmond also had a career night, recording a career-best 21 kills on a team-best .314 hitting percentage. Freshman middle blocker Katie Seyller had nine assisted blocks in the match for the `Birds. Defensively, ISU was led by freshman Kasey Mollerus' 24 digs. Fifth-year senior defensive specialist Jessie Janik had a career-high tying 22 digs.
Creighton was led by Houts, who had 27 kills. Goc collected 20 kills, while Amanda Cvejdlik had 14 kills. Setter Korie Lebeda recorded 64 assists. Katie Mehal led a group of five Bluejays with double-digit digs.
The Redbirds had 26 errors in the match, including 11 from the service line.
"They (Creighton) had a great performance in the front row, and really made things hard on us," said head coach Sharon Dingman. "But I thought we battled tonight, and came up on the short end of some tough breaks. We definitely have to fix our serving. We talk to the team about serving aggressively all the time, but we can't afford to have as many service errors as we did tonight and expect to beat a great team like Creighton. If we don't commit those eight service errors (into the net), it's a two-point game, and we come up on the winning end tonight."
The Redbirds used a balanced offensive attack in game one to post a hard-fought, 30-28 victory. Illinois State claimed the early lead at 4-3, and did not surrender it despite a back-and-forth battle throughout the duration of the frame. With the Redbirds clinging to a 5-4 edge, the ensuing eight points resulted in side outs, with neither team serving for back-to-back points in the stretch. Illinois State extended its lead to 10-7 after a solo block by Lindley McDavid, and enjoyed the three-point advantage eight times in the next 25 points.
The `Birds stretched the lead to as many as five, but Creighton quickly trimmed the edge to two points (28-26), and made ISU fight for the early one-game advantage. The Redbirds forced game point at 29-26, but back-to-back kills by Jessica Houts and Goc cut the score to 29-28. Richmond capped off the win with her game-high seventh kill. ISU hit .378 in the frame, with Richmond, McDavid and Lindsey combining for 15 kills. Houts led the Bluejays with eight kills.
Illinois State saw a six-point lead disappear mid-way through game two, as the Bluejays evened the match at 1-1 with a 30-28 victory. The`Birds carried game one's momentum over to the early stages, jumping out to a 10-5 lead after 15 points. After Houts collected her ninth kill of the match to pull Creighton within one, 6-5, Illinois State recorded four consecutive blocks to force the Bluejays into their first timeout. Staehlin had a stuff block and assisted on two more in the spurt.
Illinois State controlled the next 30 possessions of the game, stretching their lead to as large as six points on three occasions. But the Bluejays stormed back, and after Goc's eighth kill, tied the game at 22-22. They claimed their first lead since 3-2 one-point later, and did not allow the Redbirds to regain the advantage. Creighton finished the game on a 9-5 run to record the come-from-behind win. Houts had six kills in the frame to push her total to 14 through the first two games. Richmond countered with five kills, but the Redbirds were held to a .067 hitting percentage in the stanza.
Creighton broke a 2-2 tie with a 7-2 run, forcing Dingman into her first timeout of the game with the Redbirds trailing, 9-4. The Bluejays kept the pressure on, and never surrendered the lead. Goc and Cvejdlik combined for 14 of Creighton's 22 kills in the game, as the Bluejays hit a match-high .259 en route to the 30-23 win.
ISU led for 22 of the first 25 points of game four, but Creighton regained the advantage at 14-13 after back-to-back Redbird hitting errors. They held the lead for the ensuing 12 possessions before the `Birds tied the game at 19-19 on Staehlin's service ace. Illinois State regained the lead one-point later, but saw it disappear at 23-22 after Houts collected her 24th kill of the match. The Jays extended their lead to 26-23, but ISU answered with a 5-2 run to even the score at 28-28. Lindsey and Staehlin each recorded a kill in the stretch. ISU forced game point four times in the ensuing nine points, but Creighton fought off each rally with a kill, including the game-winner by Goc that gave the Jays the 34-32, deuce victory.
Illinois State will return to action next Friday (Nov. 3) when they host Indiana State at Redbird Arena beginning at 7 p.m. The `Birds swept the Sycamores in Terre Haute on Oct. 7.
