Sept. 25, 2009
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
NORMAL, Ill. - Senior Kasey Mollerus set the Illinois State all-time career digs record, but Illinois State (5-9, 0-3 MVC) fell to Drake (11-4, 2-1 MVC) in five sets, (23-25, 25-19, 25-23, 20-25, 12-15).
Mollerus had 25 digs in the match, passing Chris Rehor-Federico's record of 1, 806, which she held for over 20 years. She now carries the record at 1, 818 digs. Junior Mallory Legget led the Redbirds with 18 kills, while freshman Angelo Rego set a career-high 16 kills. Rego had just two attack aerrors and a .412 hitting percentage.
The win was Drake's first over ISu since 2006, snapping a 26-match winning streak for the Redbirds. ISU had more kills then the Bulldogs, 60-49, but was hampered by 38 attack errors and nine service errors. Drake had 15 blocks in the match.
Down four in the first-set, Drake went on a 7-2 run to pull ahead by a point, 17-16. After four more ties, the Bulldogs closed out the set with a 4-2 run. The first set featured 12 ties and eight attack errors by each team. Leggett had five of Illinois State's11 kills.
ISU jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the beginning of the second set, but Drake came back to tie the set at five. With the score tied at nine, Illinois State went on an 11-3 run to take a commanding 20-12 lead. Winning the set snapped Illinois State's seventh-straight set losing streak. Redbirds finished the second set by besting Drake, 25-19.
The third set had 16 ties and six lead changes. Redbirds built a four-point lead, 12-8, midway through the set. Drake pulled ahead by two 22-20 but Redbirds closed the win with a 5-1 run. Rego had a pair of kills during the run, including the set-clincher.
Redbirds used the 5-0 run to pull ahead, 10-8, in the fourth set. Visk had two kills and a block assist during the run and Mollerus had her record-setting dig. Drake used four kills to take a 17-14 lead and later had three-straight kills to pull ahead, 22-16. The Redbirds spoiled two-straight Drake set points, but the Bulldogs recorded a block to win the set. ISU was plagued by 12 attack errors during the third set.
In the fifth set, Illinois State fell behind Drake 6-2. The Redbirds came back within two points but ultimately fell 15-12 to the Bulldogs.
Illinois State will continue its home stand Saturday as it hosts Creighton at 2:05 p.m.
