COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Illinois State volleyball team lost a pair of closely contested matches Saturday at the Missouri Tiger Invitational, falling first to Xavier in four sets and later to Lipscomb in a five-set match.
Lipscomb won the late match by scores of 25-22, 12-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-13. Ashley Rosch tallied a team-high 18 kills in the match, and was later named to the all-tournament team. Stacey Niao added 17 kills, three aces and 19 digs. Eliza Smith recorded a career-high 11 kills and Annchara Montgomery posted seven blocks. Kaitlyn Early had 49 assists and Emily Orrick led the team with 22 digs.
Lipscomb (5-1) led the entire way in the first set despite Illinois State (3-4) never trailing by more than four points. The Redbirds bounced back in a big way in the second set and never trailed en route to a 25-12 win.
The script changed in the third set as the lead changed hands six times, the final time when Rosch recorded three straight kills to get the Redbirds to a set point. ISU sealed the third-set win with a Lipscomb attack error.
The Redbirds ran out to a 6-1 lead in the fourth set only to see the Bisons duplicate the feat and tie things up at 7-7. The Redbirds nudged back ahead with a five-point rally moments later, but Lipscomb answered again with a five-point surge of its own to regain the lead for good.
ISU built a four-point lead in the fifth set and held a 13-10 advantage after a kill from Early, but Lipscomb scored the final five points to seal the set and the match.
Xavier (5-0) topped Illinois State by scores of 25-21, 25-23, 17-25, 25-22, in the early match.
Rosch led the Redbirds with 13 kills. Niao added 12 kills and five blocks, while Smith chipped in 10 kills. Early provided 40 assists and Orrick led the Redbirds with 22 digs.
Xavier scored a wire-to-wire win in the first set. The Musketeers led comfortably until the Redbirds used a 6-1 rally to close to within two points at 19-17. Xavier scored five of the next six points to get to set point, which it won on the third try. A back-and-forth second set also went the way of the Musketeers. ISU took a 23-22 lead with a kill from Smith, but Xavier scored the next three points to win the set.
The Redbirds turned it around in the third set, using separate runs of four and five points to build their lead, and Smith finished off the set with her eighth kill of the match.
Illinois State built another sizable lead in the fourth set, but an eight-point run by Xavier gave the Musketeers a three-point lead. A Jaelyn Keene kill later knotted things up at 22-22, but Xavier answered with three straight points to claim the set and the match.
The Redbirds return home to host Illinois-Chicago on Tuesday. The match starts at 6 p.m. at Redbird Arena.
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