Illinois State-Indiana State Match Notes in PDF Format
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Oct. 12, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State volleyball team will look to win its fourth-consecutive Missouri Valley Conference match when the Redbirds take on host Indiana State at the Hulman Center Saturday beginning at 6 p.m. (7 p.m. EST). The match marks ISU's only Valley contest this week.
Illinois State (13-6, 5-3 MVC) is coming off last weekend's sweep of Valley foes Bradley and Northern Iowa. At Robertson Field House Friday night, sophomore outside hitter Peggy Riessen and senior middle blocker Kari Staehlin combined for 29 kills to lead Illinois State to its first Missouri Valley Conference three-game sweep (30-20, 30-27 and 30-20) of the season.
On Saturday at Redbird Arena, Illinois State battled back to win a thrilling five-game match against Northern Iowa (9-9, 4-3 MVC), 3-2 (30-26, 28-30, 20-30, 35-33, 21-19). ISU was down 2-1 in the match and needed two overtime victories in the final games to pull out the win. Junior setter Erin Lindsey recorded the second triple-double of her career with a career-high 71 assists, 10 kills and 10 digs.
Indiana State dropped to 3-13 overall and 0-8 in the Valley with consecutive losses to UNI and Bradley last weekend. Jodilynn Stoker, a 5-foot-11 sophomore from Ames, Iowa, leads the Sycamores in kills with 139 (2.44 per game) while Kristen Kerscher, a 5-foot-11 sophomore from Toledo, Ohio, is second with 107 (1.95 per game) and Katie Dilling, a 6-foot-1 freshman from Michigan City, Ind., is third with 83 (1.77 per game).
The Redbirds enter this weekend leading the Valley in digs (20.54 dpg) and service aces (123), and are third in kills-per-game (15.76 kpg). M.C. Richmond ranks seventh overall in hitting percentage (.310) and is third in kills (3.83 kpg); Lindsey's 12.33 assists-per-game ranks third overall in the Valley and ISU boasts five of the top-15 dig specialists in the league, led by Kasey Mollerus' 4.69 digs-per-game. Outside hitter Mallory Leggett, the reigning Valley Freshman of the Week, now has 100 kills (3.03 kpg) and 125 digs (3.79 dpg) in conference play.
Richmond is also approaching a career milestone. She has 975.5 career points, and is just 24.5 points away from clinching 1,000 for her career. Richmond would be just the sixth player in ISU history to eclipse that total. She scored a career-high 32.5 points on a career-best 28 kills against Northern Iowa.
Illinois State leads the all-time series against Valley rival Indiana State, 41-5. The Redbirds have claimed four-consecutive meetings, but had dropped three of their previous four matches in Terre Haute, Ind.
Indiana State is playing in the Hulman Center for only the second time this season. The Sycamores defeated Chicago State, 3-1, on Sept. 4.
Illinois State has fared much better on the road this season than it has at the confines of Redbird Arena. The Redbirds are 7-1 away from Normal, and are 4-4 at home. ISU has captured road wins over Northern Illinois (Aug. 28), Alabama (Sept. 1), Ball State (Sept. 8), Southern Illinois (Sept. 14) Evansville (Sept. 15), Drake (Sept. 29) and Bradley (Oct. 5).
