EUGENE, Ore. – The Illinois State volleyball team opened its 2014 season with a 3-1 win over Central Arkansas (25-18, 22-25, 25-16, 25-20) Friday night at the Oregon Tournament. Junior Ashley Rosch paced the Redbirds with a match-high 18 kills and senior setter Kaitlyn Early dished out 43 assists.
Senior Emily Orrick led all players with 30 digs. Emily Schneider tallied 14 kills and freshman Jaelyn Keene added eight kills, three service aces and four blocks in her first match wearing the Redbird uniform.
"Both middles connected well with Kaitlyn today," said head coach Melissa Myers. "Getting our middles going was a key contributor to picking up our first win of the season."
The first set was back-and-forth between the two squads. With the score 19-17 in ISU's favor, the Redbirds went on a 6-1 run to take the first set, 25-18.
Central Arkansas battled back to take the second set, 25-22, but the Redbirds jumped out to early leads in the third and fourth sets. ISU cruised to a 25-16 win in the third set, but had to fend off a late Central Arkansas rally in the fourth. Rosch helped the Redbirds secure their first win of the season by recording her 18th kill of the match.
ISU is back in action Saturday with matches against Ohio State (1 p.m. CST) and Oregon (5 p.m. CST).
All of ISU's matches can be heard live at GoRedbirds.com and WJBC.com
GoRedbirds.com:Â Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.ÂÂÂÂ
