NORMAL, Ill. – Sophomore Tamara Otene posted a career-best performance in multiple statistical categories in Illinois State volleyball's 2-3 loss to the Missouri State Bears on Friday night inside Redbird Arena. The Redbirds fall to 5-10 on the year and 1-2 in Missouri Valley Conference play, while the Bears improve to 11-4 on the year and 2-1 in league play.
Tonight's match was the second-straight match that the 'Birds took to five sets and also the second match in a row where Otene improved her career-best number of kills. After nailing 22 kills for a then-lifetime best at UNI last weekend, the Auckland, New Zealand native upped her personal best by one tonight against the Bears, ending the night with a match-high 23. With 10 of Otene's 23 kills coming in the fourth set, she played a huge role in forcing a set five for the Redbirds.
In addition to Otene's 23 kills on an impressive .320 hitting percentage, the sophomore also registered a career-best five blocks to lead both teams alongside teammate Allie Trame, who also finished with five blocks against MSU.
Junior outside hitter Sarah Kushner joined Otene in recording an impressive performance against MSU, matching her personal-best number of kills in five sets with 19. The Naperville, Illinois native also finished with 14 digs for her 10th double-double effort of the season, which continues her streak of three-straight double-doubles in conference play.
The 'Birds and the Bears battled back and forth, trading off wins in the first four sets with each set nearly matching the previous match's score (22-25, 25-23, 18-25, 25-18, 11-15) before Illinois State ultimately fell in set five after Missouri State ended on a 6-3 run to get the match victory.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH LEAH JOHNSON
On Tamara Otene's career night:
"She willed us to the fifth. Here's the thing with Tam (Tamara Otene) – when she's hot, you set her every single ball. There's no reason to set anyone else because she's just seeing the court so well and she's hitting every angle. When she has that matchup, I feel good about what she sees. The two of them (Tamara Otene and Sarah Kushner) had a double block the entire night. After halfway through set one, they (Missouri State) were just committing to them and they both still hit .320 for Tam and .240 for Sarah. .320 is a right-side number or a middle number. They fought hard – at 23 kills and 19 kills I can't be mad."
On playing back-to-back five-set matches:
"I think the five-set matches give us a lot of opportunity to make adjustments and show the grit that we have. There was so much fight and a lot of that comes from Sarah (Kushner) and Kaity (Weimerskirch) and Carley (Nicholson) – they're our veterans on the court and they're willing the team to be aggressive, to take the big swing, to go for it on the serve, whatever it is. The longer the match goes on, the better our underclassmen get because they feed off of our upperclassmen."
UP NEXT
The Redbirds will return to Redbird Arena tomorrow, Saturday, October 2, when they take on Southern Illinois at 6 p.m.
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