Sept. 26, 2006
Box Score
NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State's volleyball team used a dominating and record-setting front line performance to outlast a visiting Saint Louis team in a five-game non-conference affair (31-29, 21-30, 28-30, 30-28, 15-6) here at Redbird Arena Tuesday night.
It was the Redbirds' second consecutive victory, and improves their season slate to 6-8 (1-3 MVC). The Billikens move to 9-6 with the setback.
Offensively, the Redbirds put four players in double figures, led by Kari Staehlin's 15 kills. M.C. Richmond collected 14 kills while hitting .270, Lindley McDavid had 13 kills, and freshman Peggy Riessen was in double figures for the second consecutive match with 12 kills. Saint Louis was led by outside hitter Tatyana Menshikova's 25 kills, while Sammi McCloud also recorded 23 kills in the match.
But the story of the night was on the front line, where Illinois State recorded a season-best 17.0 team blocks. Bloomington native Katie Seyller shined in the match with 12 total blocks, which tied for the second-best effort in Redbird history with Nikki McCleary and the former Jenny Kabbes, now the Redbird associate head coach.
"It was a huge win for us tonight," said head coach Sharon Dingman. "This is what we expected out of Saint Louis, it's what we've gotten the last couple times we have played them. We had some players that had some pretty special performances tonight. I told the team before the match that we were going to have to score some points from the back row to win this match, and we were able to do that."
Erin Lindsey ran the offense with crisp setting all night, tallying 59 assists while hitting a team-best .286. She also collected 18 digs in the match.
"Erin's sets were really on tonight," Richmond said. "She was able to set me on a lot of free balls, so I knew the ball had the chance of hitting the floor almost every time if it was a perfect pass, and Erin made that happen tonight. She really got us going offensively, especially in games four and five."
Game one saw the Redbirds fall behind by three points mid-way through the stanza, but they stormed back to tie the score at 18-18. After Saint Louis regained control by three points again (23-20), the Redbirds went on a 5-1 run to claim the lead at 25-24. The Billikens tied the frame nine points later (29-29), but could not regain the advantage, and Illinois State clinched the 31-29 win following Staehlin's fourth kill.
The Billikens controlled game two, trailing just once (2-1) in the stanza. After forcing the Redbirds into a timeout trailing 14-8, Saint Louis went on an 8-3 spurt to extend their lead to ten, 22-12. The Billikens closed out the stanza at 30-21 following back-to-back kills by Menshikova.
Saint Louis claimed a commanding 2-1 advantage in the best-of-five with a 30-28 victory in game three. After both teams traded points for the first ten possessions of the frame, the Billikens built a five-point lead mid-way through the game. Trailing 24-20, Redbirds capitalized on a 6-2 run to tie the match at 26-26, forcing the Billikens into a timeout. But Saint Louis closed out the game on a 4-2 run to claim the 30-28 decision. Menshikova's 20th kill of the match was the game-winner.
There were a combined 26 ties and lead changes in game four. The Redbirds led for 13 consecutive possessions mid-way through the contest, but saw their five-point advantage disappear after the Billikens tied the stanza at 22-22 following a kill by McCloud. Illinois State regained the lead for good at 28-27 after Seyller collected her fifth kill. Richmond clinched the win and forced a decisive game five with a kill to make the score 30-28.
In game five, the Redbirds jumped out early, and owned an 8-2 lead when the teams switched sides. Richmond, Riessen, McDavid and Lindsey each recorded a kill in the stretch. The advantage was extended to 11-3 four points later. The Billikens could pull no closer for the remainder of the game. Richmond put an exclamation point on the nine-point runaway victory by hammering home her 14th kill of the match.
