NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State volleyball team (2-3) won their second match in a row, defeating UIC (1-4) in four sets (29-27, 23-25, 25-19, 29-27) on Saturday afternoon to improve to 2-0 in the Red & White Invitational.
The Redbirds closeout the tournament tomorrow with No. 25 Marquette at Redbird Arena. First serve is set for 1 p.m. CT and the first 500 fans in the door will receive a replica championship pennant.
OPENING VOLLEY
- Sophomore outside hitter Tamara Otene had a career-high 21 kills, leading the Redbirds in kills for the fourth time this season.
- Freshman Aliyah Moore recorded 18 kills while hitting .333 on the day.
- Junior Sarah Kushner posted her third double-double of the year, going for 12 kills and recording 13 digs.
- Five Redbirds reached double-digit kills, with sophomores Kaitlyn Prondzinski and Nicole Lund each blasting 11.
- Freshman setter Katelyn Lefler had a game-high 56 assists and 20 digs, which matched junior libero Kaity Weimerskirch for the team-high in digs.
THE DIFFERENCE
- The Flames and Redbirds had near identical hitting percentages (.220 and .226, respectively), but Illinois State held the advantage in kills, 74-57. ISU had 21 kills in both the first and fourth sets that both went beyond the usual 25 point-victory.
- The tumultuous fourth set saw 12 ties and five lead changes before the 'Birds scored the final three points to put an ending to the 2:40 match.
QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH LEAH JOHNSON
"Our offense was clicking. We made good adjustments offensively. I like our distribution. Everyone had double digit kills except our setter, which is expected. I'm really pleased with our offense."
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