Redbird Volleyball: The Stories Behind the Schedule

When Abby Reck played against her sister Molly last season, her grandfather came prepared.

He made a shirt split down the middle — half Illinois State, half Oakland — because choosing a side wasn't really needed.

This September, when Reck meets Molly and her twin sister Mallory at the Oakland Invite, there may be a lot more shirts to make, with at least 80 family members expected to make the trip.

"It's going to be like the event of the fall for my family," Reck said.

The Reck sisters' matchup is just one example of the personal connections woven throughout Illinois State's schedule this fall. 

To open the season, head coach Allie Matters will return to Seton Hall, where her playing and coaching careers took shape. 

A week later, when the Birds hit the road to Michigan, players will welcome their teammates into the homes where they grew up.

And finally, at the Oakland Invite in late September, Abby Reck will face two of the people who know her best: her sisters. 

Back Where it All Started

When Matters committed to Seton Hall, coaching wasn't part of the plan.

She wanted to play Division I volleyball, major in business and experience life away from her hometown of Buffalo, New York. Seton Hall offered the chance to do all three, along with proximity to New York City, a place she had grown up visiting with her aunt.

It seemed like the perfect fit.

Then, one month before she was supposed to report to campus, the coach who recruited her was fired.

Instead of derailing her college experience, the coaching change introduced Matters to someone who would ultimately change the course of her career. New head coach Kris Zeiter became one of the most influential people in her life — and eventually the reason she found her way into coaching.

"He was really the reason why I got into coaching because I was just so impacted by him," Matters said.

Years later, Matters returned to Seton Hall as an assistant coach, spending six seasons on the sideline where she had once been a player.

Seton Hall became more than the place where she played college volleyball. It became the place where she discovered the career she would build.

Now, nearly a decade after she last spent significant time there, Matters will return to the gym where that journey began, this time as the head coach of Illinois State.

The building has changed. The gym has undergone upgrades. But the memories remain.

"Just walking around campus and being in the gym, I think it's going to bring up a lot of memories, but I'm thankful that they're all good memories," Matters said.

And there will be plenty of familiar faces waiting for her.

Former teammates. Former colleagues. Friends from the East Coast she hasn't seen in years. Her former academic advisor, who still works with Seton Hall volleyball.

For Matters, the return will be a chance to reconnect with the people who knew her at different stages of her life — before coaching, when she was learning the profession and now, as she leads her own program.

"I'm excited for them to see me as an adult," she said. "When you grow and you're just like, wow, they probably remember me as this, this, or this, and I'm excited just to talk to people and show them how much I've grown."

A Piece of Home on the Road

A week later, the Redbirds will have another kind of homecoming.

Illinois State will travel to Michigan to play Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan, a trip that will bring several Redbirds back to their home state. 

The trip also brings assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Matt DePauw back to a familiar place, as he spent four seasons at Central Michigan before joining the Redbirds. 

The trip wasn't originally designed as one grand homecoming. Illinois State owed Central Michigan a return trip after the Chippewas played in Normal two years ago, while Eastern Michigan was added when the opportunity arose. 

But the schedule happened to line up perfectly for the Redbirds' Michigan players.

Abby Reck, Jillian Ferrill and Ella Craggs all have ties to the state. And instead of simply spending another weekend moving between hotels, gyms and restaurants, the Redbirds will get to spend part of the trip in the homes of their teammates.

The Recks will host the team one night. The Craggs will host another.

A home-cooked meal. Family. Pets. A chance to step away from the hotel and simply spend time together.

For Reck, that is exactly what makes the experience meaningful.

"It's a break from routine, and it gives everyone a second to just decompress and feel at home and feel cared for," Reck said.

At her aunt's lake house, her teammates will get a chance to ride the boat, meet her family and experience the part of Michigan she loves.

"I'm excited for them to get a taste of my home and what I like to do and where I come from," Reck said.

The Michigan trip also highlights the relationship between Reck and Craggs, whose family helped introduce Reck to volleyball when she was 12. The two later played together in high school, with Craggs setting Reck, before eventually becoming teammates again at Illinois State.

When Reck entered the transfer portal after starting her career at Northeastern, Craggs encouraged her to visit Illinois State.

Reck did, and she has loved it ever since.

"She's honestly like a younger sister to me," Reck said of Craggs.

A Reck Sister Classic

Then comes the most unusual connection of them all.

Abby's sisters, Molly and Mallory, play for Oakland and Marist, respectively. When the three teams meet at the Oakland Invite later in September, the sisters will find themselves on opposite sides of the net.

"It'll be a really proud big sister moment for me," Reck said.

When Oakland head coach Krista Rice reached out to Matters, she wasn't simply offering another tournament matchup.

She had an idea.

A Reck Sister Classic.

When Rice presented the idea of bringing all three sisters together, the answer was easy for Matters.

"They're just three of the most competitive humans you'll ever meet," Matters said. "They have one speed and one speed only."

But Reck knows her sisters also know her tendencies.

She remembers one point from last season when she faced Molly in a tournament hosted by Western Michigan. Reck went up to block her sister, who knew exactly how to attack her hands.

"She knows to go off my right pinky and try and tool me," Reck said.

Molly got the touch, but the official didn't see it. Molly immediately ran to her bench and called for a challenge.

"It was just so funny getting to see her know my tendencies," Reck said.

As the oldest of the three, Reck has also become a resource for Molly and Mallory as they navigate their own college careers. Having already gone through the transfer portal and found a home at Illinois State, she has offered her perspective on the decisions and challenges that come with college volleyball.

Reck said she talks to her sisters every other day and remembers the calls she received after both reached their freshman years.

"I remember that phone call from both of them," Reck said. "Oh, you weren't lying. Oh, this is hard. This is a lot of work."

Their shared experience of college athletics has brought the sisters even closer.

More Than Volleyball

Those relationships are what make the Redbirds' early-season schedule more than a collection of matches.

As she enters her senior season, Reck said the team's focus has been on building a strong culture and maintaining consistent expectations.

"This team honestly feels like a family," Reck said. "It's truly one of the best teams I've ever been a part of."

The schedule may have come together in different ways, but each stop gives the Redbirds a chance to experience something together beyond the court.

Through it all, they'll learn more about the people standing beside them — where they came from, who helped them get here and what makes them who they are.

As Reck put it, her family getting to spend time with her teammates will show them that "it's not just volleyball that we're building here."