NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State volleyball team (5-4, 3-2 MVC) handed Drake (6-2, 4-1 MVC) its first Missouri Valley Conference loss of the season Sunday night, sweeping the Bulldogs at Redbird Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1 >> The Redbirds used a balanced offense to enter a scoring run early, pushing ISU out in front, 9-4. Kaylee Martin led the way with two kills, while adding an ace to her stat line out of a Drake-called timeout for a six-point advantage for the home team. The Bulldogs responded with a 4-0 run, but Cassie Jordan's first kill of the match put the Drake run to an end. Jordan teamed up with Stef Jankiewicz on the outside to help ISU bounce back out to a six-point cushion, sitting at a 22-16 lead. Martin's match-leading fourth kill sealed the opening frame, 25-19, while the Redbirds were hitting .378 as a team.
Set 2 >> It was a back-and-forth battle in the second set, before a kill from Sarah Kushner brought some life into the Redbirds after trailing by three. Jankiewicz dropped a serve over the net, recording ISU's third ace of the match, to level the score at nine-all. Going into the media break, Martin's sixth kill helped the Redbirds hold a slim one-point lead. Drake jumped out in front, 17-15, behind a 3-0 scoring run. The tandem of Kushner and Martin each turned in kills to help the Redbirds crawl back, before a block by Kushner and Jordan gave ISU the lead. Another kill from Martin pushed the Redbirds to set point, before a kill from Nicole Lund secured the second set, 25-22.
Set 3 >> In the deciding set, three-straight attacking errors by the Redbirds forced ISU to use a timeout to regroup. Sarah Jacobsen subbed into the match with ISU trailing by three, making her first collegiate appearance as a Redbird. After knotting the score at eight-all, Illinois State regained the lead on Jordan's career-high fifth kill. Drake held a 16-13 advantage midway through the set, before the Redbirds responded by taking advantage of a handful of Bulldog errors. Kushner secured her fourth double-double of the season with her 10th kill to level the set at 18-all. Closing on a 4-0 run behind a trio of kills from Kaitlyn Prondzinski, the Redbirds jumped back in the win column, grabbing the final set, 25-22.
LEADING THE FLOCK
QUOTING COACH JOHNSON
On team's performance and being back at home…
"Obviously, we're excited to be back at home. I was pleased with our consistency. We had a couple stretches that I thought we were going to let it slip away from us, similarly to last weekend. I thought we did a nice job pulling it back together quicker this weekend, especially in set three making that push at the end."
On balanced offense…
"We felt that they're (Drake) a good blocking team that doesn't always show it in the stats. They influence you, they touch a lot of balls, slow you down and work pin-to-pin. We felt that we had to stretch our offense and run multiple different routes with multiple different people, and you saw that with the long rallies."
UP NEXT
The Redbirds and the Bulldogs will wrap up the two-game series tomorrow at 4 p.m., before Illinois State hosts Valparaiso next weekend.
Game dates, opponents, times and locations are subject to change. To view Illinois State's full schedule and find ways to follow the match, visit GoRedbirds.com.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more
