WEST LAFAYETE, Ind. – For the fourth-straight season, the Illinois State volleyball team competed in the NCAA Tournament, when they headed to West Lafayette, Indiana, to take on No. 6 seed Purdue in the first round Thursday night. The nationally-ranked Boilermakers (24-6) took care of business on their home court, defeating the Redbirds (19-14) in three sets (25-21, 25-17, 25-11) inside Holloway Gymnasium.
The Redbirds jumped out to an early lead in set one at 2-1 on a block assist by Tamara Otene and Cassie Jordan, but the Boilermakers came back to take the advantage and led by as many as three points at 15-12, but the Redbirds closed it to one point on five occasions before eventually tying the set at 19-19 on a kill by Sarah Kushner. Purdue settled down and took the first set 25-21.
A kill by Aliyah Moore tied things up at the start of the second set for the Redbirds and a service ace by Nora Janka would give them their first lead of the set at 5-4. Purdue then went on a 3-0 scoring run to take the lead and force ISU head coach Leah Johnson to take a timeout. The lead would grow to as many as five points at 12-7, before the Redbirds battled back and closed it to two at 13-11 on a kill by Otene. A 4-0 run by Purdue later extended the lead to 18-12, before the Redbirds scored three straight including a kill by Moore to make the score 18-15. The Boilers would then take control and won the second set 25-17.
A service ace by Janka started off set three for the Redbirds and an attack error by Purdue gave the 'Birds a quick 2-0 lead. Purdue then went on a 10-3 run to force a timeout by the Redbirds with the score at 10-5. The Boilermakers never looked back and went on to win the set and the match in three sets.
Moore led the Redbirds with a team-high nine kills and Otene added eight to tie the sophomore record for kills in a season. MVC Tournament MVP Kaitlyn Prondzinksi tallied six kills for the 'Birds and Kushner finished with five. In addition to her two aces, Janka finished with a team-high 17 assists against the Boilermakers.
Defensively, MVC Libero of the Year Kaity Weimerskirch led the way with 14 digs, marking the 15th straight game that she has finished with at least 10 digs. Kushner and Jordan also finished with two blocks each for the Redbirds.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH LEAH JOHNSON
On Aliyah Moore leading with nine kills as a freshman:
"She's a stud. No, she was phenomenal. She was composed, opportunistic. When she had her opportunities she took advantage of it. I could see her fire.
Actually I was brainstorming ways to have her play on the outside all match after set one. But she's been putting in the work, and she's her harshest critic. All year she's kind of been battling herself, and I think that's only made her better. So long as we can keep her head at this game level in training, too, and as a freshman these are the things that you have to try to channel, and our job is to transfer that energy into practice so that training environment can continue to produce these results.
You know, her job is to be a stud. My job is to figure out how to help her repeat it, and so that's what we're going to keep doing. I'm so proud of her."
QUOTE FROM FRESHMAN OUTSIDE HITTER ALIYAH MOORE
On playing in her first NCAA Tournament:
"It's been amazing. It just hit me an hour before the game. I was like, whoa, I used to watch the NCAAs on TV and now I'm in it. Especially some of the Purdue girls, I would watch them. So it's like, wow, I'm blocking you now and I used to look at you on TV. It's just amazing. Then the competitive fire in me just comes out, and I've got nothing to lose. I'm just going."
