ATHENS, Ga. – For the first time since 2014, and the fifth time in 10 seasons, the Illinois State volleyball team (2-0) secured back-to-back victories to open the season with a sweep of Coastal Carolina (0-2) on Saturday morning.
QUOTING COACH JOHNSON
On starting the day with a win…
"The most impressive part of today's match was the urgency. I think the team has done such a good job practice-to-practice keeping the same tone and the same pace, and they did that from last night into this morning. The team was really sharp, really dialed in and everything was done with a purpose."
On improvements seen on the court…
"I thought where we improved – because that is one of our goals, we want to improve every match – we improved on making adjustments faster. I think that's why were able to maintain control during the match."
On capitalizing on Coastal Carolina's misfortunes…
"One our goals is to create our own points. I thought we did a nice job of not letting their moments of being out of rhythm transfer to us at the net. We stayed in rhythm, we stayed aggressive and we stuck to playing Redbird volleyball."
On equal production on the court…
"Kaylee (Martin) had such a phenomenal night last night, and even though she wasn't high-kill today, one thing we track is when you take a swing, what the result is, and we got a lot of free balls off of her swing. So although the numbers may not show it, she continued to produce differently. What the numbers do show is how productive Monica (Miller) can be, how offensive Stef (Jankiewicz) is and how good of a match Ella (Francis) had for us."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1 >> A pair of kills by Monica Miller and Ali Line, followed by a service ace by Alyssa Kronberg, helped Illinois State jump out to a five-point advantage. After holding a five-point lead consistently through the first set, Coastal Carolina was forced to use a timeout with the Redbirds ahead, 21-13. Miller and Line finished the opening set with a trio of kills, as Illinois State was hitting .417 as a team with three service aces. The Redbird defense held the Chanticleers to a .179 hitting percentage with five attack errors.
Set 2 >> Kendal Meier delivered back-to-back service aces to give Illinois State an early 5-3 lead over the Chanticleers. A solo block in the middle by Line forced Coastal Carolina to call a timeout with a 9-5 Illinois State advantage. Back-to-back attack errors by the Chanticleers pushed the Redbirds out to their largest lead – seven points. With Illinois State leading 15-7, Coastal Carolina was hitting below .100, before going on an 8-2 run to close in on the Redbirds. Illinois State responded and secured the second set, 25-16, on the Chanticleers' 14th attack error in the match.
Set 3 >> Kaylee Martin opened the third set with back-to-back kills for the Redbirds to give Illinois State the advantage right away. Line's team-high seventh kill of the match pushed Illinois State to a 9-6 lead. A block by Marissa Stockman and Stef Jankiewicz, forced Coastal Carolina to call a timeout. On the other side of the timeout, Stockman continued to be a presence at the net, being joined by Martin for another block as a part of Illinois State's eight total blocks in the match. Stockman's ninth kill of the match secured the set, 25-19, and the match.
LEADING THE FLOCK
- Line and Stockman finished with nine kills apiece, while Ella Francis registered eight.
- Jankiewicz dished out a match-high 32 assists.
- Meier delivered three of Illinois State's five service aces.
- Pence collected a match-high 17 digs to lead all players.
STAT OF THE MATCH
- .071 >> Illinois State held Coastal Carolina to a .071 hitting percentage in the match, while hitting .278 as a team.
UP NEXT
Illinois State will wrap up the Benson Hospitality Invitational tonight against the tournament host Georgia Bulldogs at 6:30 p.m. CT.
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