Sept. 7, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State head volleyball coach Sharon Dingman will renew an old coaching link when she leads the Redbirds into Gainesville, Florida for this weekend's Campus USA Credit Union Classic. The `Birds will play both Florida A&M and nationally-ranked Florida in the two-day tournament. Florida head coach Mary Wise was one of Dingman's college teammates at Purdue, and they coached together in assistant capacities from 1988-90 at Kentucky.
"Of all of the coaches in the country, I probably have more respect for Mary [Wise] than any other coach," said Dingman. "I know her work ethic, and I certainly learned a lot from her. So it is going to be really fun for me to have the opportunity to coach against her again."
The match between the Redbirds and Florida A&M is the tournament opener, and also marks the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Illinois State and Florida have met four times in the all-time series, and the Gators own the 4-0 advantage.
"We are facing two very talented teams this weekend," Dingman said. "Florida A&M has dominated their league over the last five or six years, and Florida is one of the best teams in the nation. It is definitely going to come down to the players on the floor, but anytime you get to play in a venue like the O'Connell Center in front of a great crowd is exciting. It will be a great experience for our players as we head into the conference portion of our season."
The Redbirds were victorious in three of their four matches last week, including a 2-1 slate and a run to the championship match of the Holiday Inn Select Rice Invitational in Houston. Illinois State was tested in the tournament, as two of the matches went the five-game duration. Against UTSA, the `Birds fought off six match points in two separate games on the way to clinching the come-from-behind win.
Along with the consistent performances and leadership from Erin Lindsey and Kari Staehlin, ISU's freshmen class continued to emerge last week. Bloomington native and middle blocker Katie Seyller showed her offensive potential with 17 kills and 11 blocks in the tournament; while defensive specialist Kasey Mollerus cemented herself as the starting libero with 97 digs, including a career-high 32 against rival DePaul.
"Watching Katie [Seyller] out there last weekend was encouraging for us, because we know that she can really go out there and start a fire for us," Dingman said. "She provides more depth on our front line, which is always good for a young team. Not only did she have a great performance in Houston, she also had a great week of practice, so we're excited about Katie.
"If we would have beaten Rice, Kasey [Mollerus] would have been the tournament MVP. Her improvement from week one to week two was drastic. As she continues to understand college volleyball at a high level, she is only going to get better. This weekend she will be digging against the #6 team in the country, so she will see first hand what it will take for us to get to that next level, and she is a huge part of that progression."
Florida A&M made its fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance last December, and has captured the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) regular season championship in each of the past 11 seasons. The Rattlers are off to a 0-4 start this season, however.
The sixth-ranked Gators are the preseason SEC favorites, and are coming off their 12th Elite Eight Appearance in the past 15 seasons. Florida is 4-1 this season with notable wins over nationally-ranked Utah and Hawaii. Their lone setback was a 3-0 decision at No. 10 UCLA.
