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Aug. 28, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State volleyball team will be searching for their first victory of the 2006 campaign when they begin their home slate against in-state rival Northern Illinois at Redbird Arena Tuesday at 7 p.m.
The Redbirds and Huskies will be meeting for the seventh consecutive season in non-conference action. Illinois State comes into the match with a 0-3 record, having dropped three decisions at last weekend's State Farm Illini Classic in Champaign. Northern Illinois is 2-1 on the season after defeating both Eastern Kentucky and Western Illinois at the NIU Comfort Inn Classic. The Huskies' lone loss of the tournament came against Saint Louis University.
Head coach Sharon Dingman believes her team learned a lot about themselves after facing the challenging opposition at Huff Hall. Host Illinois went undefeated in the tournament; UW-Milwaukee is the three-time defending regular-season Horizon League champion and Winthrop has appeared in the NCAA Tournament in four of the last five seasons.
"We were disappointed to come home from Champaign with a 0-3 record, but the tournament environment and quality of competition enabled us to learn some things about each other," said Dingman. "I am very pleased with how we played against Winthrop after a less than stellar performance against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
"We have to focus our attention to a talented Northern Illinois team, but I know if we continue to improve like we did throughout last weekend, it will be a very exciting season for Redbird volleyball."
The Redbirds own a 29-12 advantage in the all-time series against the Huskies, including claiming three of the last five meetings. Northern Illinois defeated the `Birds in a tightly contested, four-game match (22-30, 32-30, 31-29, 34-32) in DeKalb last October.
Kristin Dziubla and Manoela Vieira DaCunha combined for 25 kills in the setback, while NIU was led by Corinne Walsh's 19 kills.
