KALAMAZOO, Mich. – In a balanced offensive effort that saw six players record five or more kills, the Illinois State Redbirds opened the season with back-to-back sweeps for the first time since 1992, topping the Western Michigan Broncos in three sets, 26-24, 25-19, 26-24 on Saturday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set (26-24): The Redbirds jumped ahead early in the match and held the lead for most of the opening set until the host Broncos fought back to lead 21-20; however, using five of the next six points, the Redbirds climbed back ahead. In the back-and-forth ending, Western Michigan tied the score at 24 before a Hannah Reichensperger kill and an Oliwia Caputa ace sealed the set win for the Birds.
Second Set (25-19): ISU and WMU traded the lead early in the set, before ISU ran off five consecutive points in the middle of the set to turn an 8-9 deficit into a 13-9 lead. From there ISU would not give up its lead, and after the tournament hosts closed within one at 20-19, the Birds closed strong by scoring the final five points of the set.
Third Set (26-24): Tournament host Western Michigan fought back in the third set, and pushed ahead to an early lead, extending the advantage to as many as seven points at 14-7. The Redbirds answered back in a strong way, closing the gap to one using a 7-0 run to turn a 16-10 deficit into a 17-16 lead. The teams continued to battle to a 24-24 tie, forcing extra play for the second time in three sets. In an identical way to the first set, the Redbirds scored two straight to close the match, using a kill by Aida Shadwald and a Bronco ball-handling error to close the sweep for ISU.
KEY STATISTICS
- After winning the first two matches of the season, ISU is looking for its first 3-0 start to a season since 2010 (that team started the season 4-0).
- The Redbirds won each of the first two matches of the season by a 3-0 sweep, just the fifth time in school history that an ISU team has done that. The last time that ISU had opened a season with two consecutive sweeps was 1992, as it also happened in 1980, 1979, and 1974.
- A night after dishing out a career-high 18 assists against DePaul, Audrey Clark gave out a new career-high of 18 assists against the Broncos.
- Ruth Ziegler and Reichensperger each led ISU with seven kills, while Caitlyn Little, Logan Grevengoed, and Shadewald had six, and Khenedi Guest five.
- Guest's seven blocks led the team, as Reichensperger, Grevengoed, and Shadewald each had four blocks in the game.
- For the second straight match, ISU had at least 10 blocks as a team, including 12 against the Broncos.
- Arianna Rossi had a team-high 10 digs in the match, while Shadewald and Little were close behind with nine and eight, respectively.
- Shadwald had a match-high three service aces, as the Redbirds out-aced the Broncos nine-to-two.
NEXT UP
ISU returns for the third and final day of the Western Michigan Volleyball Tournament as the team faces off against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies with an 11 a.m. (CT) first serve in Kalamazoo.
