Nov. 22, 2008
Stats
NORMAL, Ill. - Five Illinois State players reached double figures in kills as the Redbirds closed the regular season with a, 3-1, win over Evansville at Redbird Arena Saturday.
Peggy Riessen and Mallory Leggett led the Illinois State (16-14, 9-9 MVC) attack with 14 kills each and M.C. Richmond (12), Katie Culbertson (10) and Tabitha Visk (10) notched double digit kills. As a team, Illinois State outhit Evansville .236-170 while enjoying a 63-48 advantage in kills. Illinois State was also impressive on the defensive end, out-blocking the Purple Aces, 9-4, while matching Evansville with 68 digs.
Leggett paced the Redbirds in the opening set with five kills as Illinois State jumped out to a 23-14 lead. Richmond provided the opening set's final point as the Redbirds won 25-18. Ginta Gabruseva led the attack for Evansville (14-17, 8-10 MVC) with four kills.
In the second set, Evansville scored the final five points of the match to turn a 20-20 tie into a 25-20 win. The Purple Aces looked to be writing a similar script for the end of the third set and had set-point at 24-23 to force an Illinois State timeout. Riessen responded with an emphatic kill from the left side to tie, and notched an ace on the next point to give the Redbirds a 25-24 advantage. Leggettrecorded her second kill of the set to give the Redbirds a 2-1 lead in the match.
Illinois State used the momentum to build a 16-11 lead in the third set and rolled to a 25-16 match-ending win. Culbertson had four kills in the third set for the Redbirds and also had two solo blocks. Erin Lindsey had 11 assists and finished with a match-high 53 set-assists.
Gabruseva led all hitters with 15 kills while Evansville's Julie Sylvester had a match-high 23 digs.
The win makes the Redbirds the No. 5-seeded team in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament (Nov. 27-29) in Wichita, Kan. Illinois State will face No. 4 seed Missouri State at 8 p.m. Thursday at Charles Koch Arena.
