Sept. 5, 2009
Box Score
KALAMAZOO, Mich. -
Illinois State (3-3) lost its second game at the Holiday Inn West Bronco Invitational to the host school Western Michigan (2-3), 3-1 (16-25, 18-25, 25-23, 17-25) Saturday morning. After losing the first two sets, Illinois State had a tremendous comeback to win the third set, but errors hurt the Redbirds the entire match.
The Redbirds had 28 attack errors and a .117 hitting percentage in the match, along with 11 service errors, five receiving errors and four ball handling errors. Western Michigan has won nine-straight matches over Illinois State.
"Western Michigan is a very good team with a balanced offense," said ISU head coach Melissa Myers. "They made it difficult for us to defend by having a variety of players attack and our errors didn't help us either. The comeback in the third set showed that we can battle back from adversity, which is a positive sign for the future."
Junior Mallory Leggett led the Redbirds for the fourth-straight match with 15 kills. She has recorded double-digit kills in all six matches in 2009. Junior Hailey Kelley had 10 kills and a .333 hitting percentage. Freshman Angela Rego was the other Redbird in double-digit kills with a career-best 10. Kelley and Rego combined for five block assists in the match.
Sophomore Kristin Stauter led ISU with 23 set-assists and senior Jessica Pratapas added 16. Senior Kasey Mollerus had a team-best 22 digs.
Errors plagued the Redbirds in the first set. They committed 10 attack errors, two services errors, one ball handling error and one receiving error, hitting -.027. Western Michigan jumped out to a 6-1 lead and stretched it out to 11-3. The Redbirds came back with a 9-3 run to pull within two points, but then committed four errors to help extend the Bronco advantage to 19-12. Two kills and two Redbird errors provided the last four Bronco points of the set.
The second set started close with seven ties and four lead changes through the first 16 total points. The Redbirds once again had trouble finding rhythm on offense with three service errors after sideouts in a four-point span. A kill by Rego and a Bronco error cut the deficit to just one point, 16-15. Western Michigan won the set with a 9-3 run that included six kills.
ISU had a stronger attack in the second set with 14 kills, three each by Leggett and sophomore Tabitha Visk, and just four attack errors. Four service errors kept the Redbirds from scoring any more than three-straight points during the set.
Western Michigan jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the third set and used four-straight kills and two Redbird errors to go up 20-11. ISU climbed right back with an 8-0 run and were down just one point, 20-19. Kelley had two kills and Leggett had an ace during that stretch.
An ISU error snapped the streak, then kills by Kelley, Rego and Leggett gave ISU the lead for the first time, 23-22. The Broncos tied it with a kill, but Leggett and junior Katie Culbertson had back-to-back kills to finish off the comeback and the set, 25-23. After going down by nine, the Redbirds outscored the Broncos 14-3 the rest of the set.
The first five points of the fourth set came on errors and Western Michigan led 3-2. The Broncos built that lead up to 14-6 with five kills. A block by Kelley and Rego cut the lead down to 18-14, but the Broncos had six of their last seven points off kills to take the set and the match.
Illinois State closes out the Holiday Inn West Bronco Invitational with a match against Wake Forest at 4 p.m. CST.
