CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Illinois State volleyball team fought off six match points in the fifth set before Kansas State claimed the win in a tightly-contested match at the Hurricane Invitational Saturday morning at the James L. Knight Sports Complex. Kansas State won by scores of 23-25, 25-21, 25-27, 25-12, 19-17.
Aly Dawson, Jaelyn Keene and Ashley Rosch tallied 16 kills each in the loss for Illinois State (0-2), while libero Courtney Pence collected 34 digs, tied for the seventh-most digs in a match in program history. Lexi Varga added 14 kills and 15 digs, while Dawson and Rosch chipped in 20 digs apiece.
Annchara Montgomery mixed in eight kills and a match-high six blocks, while the setting duo of Jacqueline Twing and Jordan Weatherless contributed 38 and 26 assists, respectively.
"We had a great start in this match and overall played better this morning," said Illinois State head coach Melissa Myers. "We're still working out some details, but the team showed resiliency and grit when they executed late in set five. This team will only continue to learn from these matches and get better."
Kansas State (2-0) led early in the first set until the Redbirds used a 6-1 rally to take a 13-12 lead. A tight set continued with six tied scores from that point on – the final time at 23-23 – before a Varga kill and a Kansas State ball-handling error sealed the first-set win.
Neither team held a lead of more than four points in the second set, which featured nine ties and four lead changes. The Wildcats finished strong with a 7-2 run to close out the set, knotting the match up at one set apiece.
A tightly-contested third set also came down to the final points. The Redbirds fought off a pair of Kansas State set points before getting a set point of their own when Rosch broke a 25-25 tie with her 12th kill of the match. Keene then finished off the set with her 11th kill of the day.
Kansas State controlled the fourth set from start to finish, winning by a 13-point margin that marked the biggest lead of the day for either team.
The Wildcats maintained the momentum and never trailed in the fifth set. Kansas State got to a match point at 14-11, but the Redbirds scored three-straight points to tie the game at 14-14. The teams then traded points for the next six points, with the Redbirds fighting off three more set points before Kansas State closed out the win with a kill from Alyssa Schultejans.
Illinois State is back in action this afternoon with its final match at the Hurricane Invitational, against Florida A&M, at 4:30 p.m. CT.
Links for live audio and live stats can be found at GoRedbirds.com, and fans can receive live updates via Twitter by following @RedbirdVB.
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