Sept. 18, 2010
Final Stats l Post-Match Birdcast
OXFORD, Ohio - In its final non-conference match of the season, Illinois State (11-3) topped in-state foe DePaul (1-11) in four sets (25-23, 23-25, 25-13, 25-19) at the Miami Best Western Sycamore Inn Invitational. The Redbirds closed out the non-conference schedule with 10 wins.
Illinois State had a season-high 12 service aces in the match, with senior Mallory Leggett and junior Tabitha Visk recording five apiece. Freshman Shannon McGlaughlin led ISU with 13 kills, followed closely by Leggett with 11. Junior Kristin Stauter had 38 set-assists. Sophomore Jenny Menendez had 22 digs and junior Laura Wakefield added 15.
"We seemed to score points in weird chunks today, getting four-straight blocks or four-straight aces at different times. Our offense didn't show much consistency," said head coach Melissa Myers. "We are glad to see out non-conference portion of our schedule come to an end with a win and now we can focus on Missouri Valley play. This was a long non-conference schedule with so much travel and so many matches on the road, but we learned a lot about out our team. We did some good things and have some areas to improve on to be competitive in the conference.
Leggett led Illinois State to a 6-0 lead in the first set with two kills and an ace. After a timeout, DePaul came back with four kills and an ace to pull within a point. ISU maintained the advantage, but DePaul kept it close, tying the score three times before scoring four unanswered points on three kills and a block to take the lead for the first time, 17-13. Two kills, a block and a Leggett service ace tied the score at 17, but DePaul did not relinquish the lead, scoring three more points. Still down three, ISU closed out the set with a 6-1 run to win, 25-23. The Redbirds had three kills, an ace and a block during the decisive run.
The second set was close throughout, with six ties through the first 14 points. DePaul took a two-point advantage and then three Redbird points, capped by a Visk kill, put the Redbirds back on top, 13-12. DePaul battled back to take a 19-18 lead and maintained that edge to 23-21. Two ISU points tied the set at 23, but the Blue Demons scored twice to hold off the Redbird comeback, 25-23.
Illinois State took an 8-5 lead in the third set. With the lead down to one, ISU used four kills and a DePaul error to make a 5-1 run and extend its lead to 15-10. The Redbirds kept that comfortable cushion and closed out the set with seven unanswered points to win it, 25-13. DePaul committed four errors during ISU's set-closing run.
Three kills and a block gave DePaul a 4-1 lead in the fourth set. Visk later served five aces to fuel a 9-0 Redbird run to take an 11-6 lead. The Redbirds continued to pour on the pressure, recording six kills, three by senior Hailey Kelley and two by McGlaughlin, in a 6-1 run that stretched their lead to 17-8. DePaul began to gain some momentum with a 7-2 run to pull within four points. ISU's service game came up strong again as Leggett record back-to-back service aces to give ISU a 23-16 edge. A DePaul error and a kill by senior Katie Culbertson sealed the win for ISU, 25-19.
Illinois State visits Wichita State Friday at 7 p.m.
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