CORALVILLE, Iowa – The Illinois State volleyball squad picked up its first loss of the 2025 season on Thursday afternoon, as the Redbirds fell in five sets to the Loyola Ramblers 25-20, 25-22, 26-28, 22-25, 9-15.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set (25-20): ISU jumped out early in the match, leading by four at 8-4; however, the Ramblers fought back, and eventually took a narrow one-point, 13-12 lead following back-to-back service aces. The Birds responded with a 5-0 run to stretch their lead to four, and never trailed again in the frame, securing the 25-20 win, behind eight blocks from ISU, a new season-high in a set.
Second Set (25-22): The Redbirds extended out of a back-and-forth start, using a 4-0 run to turn a 11-10 lead into a 15-11 advantage, and ISU never trailed again in the frame for the 25-22 set victory.
Third Set (26-28): Four straight ISU points put the Redbirds up early in the third set, as ISU would remain in the lead for the majority of the set; however, the Ramblers would climb back, and knotting the score at 14 and 15. The Birds went back ahead, and led 23-20 before Loyola fought back, tying the score again at 24, 25, and 26, ultimately scoring the final two points of ISU's first set loss of the 2025 season.
Fourth Set (22-25): The Ramblers and Redbirds exchanged the lead four times as there were also a dozen tie scores in the set, which was ultimately won by Loyola.
Fifth Set (9-15): The Redbirds fell behind by three at the midway point of the fifth set and could not recover, as the Ramblers scored the final four points of the match to secure the five-set win.
KEY STATISTICS
- The Redbirds opened the season by winning 11 consecutive sets, tied for the second-longest season-opening stretch in program history, trailing only the 1992 season's 13 consecutive set wins to open a season
- Hannah Reichensperger recorded a season-high 13 kills
- Khenedi Guest and Logan Grevengoed each had 10 kills for ISU, while Oliwia Caputa and Ruth Ziegler each had nine
- Reck, Reichensperger, Guest, Grevengoed, Ziegler, and Caputa's kill totals are season-highs
- The Redbirds had four players reach double-digit kills in the same game for the first time since November 24, 2024 against Missouri State
- Arianna Rossi reached double-digit digs for the third consecutive match, and she led the Redbirds with 21
- For the fourth time in four matches this season, Audrey Clark has set a new career-high in assists, giving out 28 in the match, while freshman Ella Craggs also set a new career-high with 18 helpers.
- With her season-high three aces, Rossi tied her career-high
- Caputa (15), Craggs (12), and Reck (9) all set season-highs in digs.
- Guest's seven blocks are a new season-high, and on away from her career-best mark, while her four solo blocks doubled her previous career-best
- The Redbirds, who came into the match ranked fourth in the country in blocks per set, had 15 blocks in the match, including eight in the first set.
NEXT UP
ISU remains in Iowa for the next two days, as the squad will play tournament host Iowa on Friday afternoon at 6 p.m., before facing off against Butler on Saturday at 11 a.m.
