NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State volleyball team (9-11, 5-3 MVC) completed the homecoming weekend sweep with a five-set victory (25-19, 29-31, 20-25, 25-17, 15-13) over Valparaiso (13-6, 4-4 MVC) on Saturday night inside Redbird Arena. This weekend's wins over Loyola-Chicago and Valparaiso mark the 'Birds first weekend sweep of the season.
On top of the five-set thriller, junior captain Kaity Weimerskirch achieved a major career milestone against the Beacons, joining the 1,000-career dig club with her 26 digs tonight.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Illinois State's swing of eight unanswered points to take a 14-4 lead mid-set proved to be crucial in the 'Birds set one win. With 17 kills by six different Redbirds in set one, Illinois State dominated the Beacons, who had just nine kills to start. Sophomore outside hitter Kaitlyn Prondzinski had six kills on a .500 clip to lead the offensive efforts in the opening set for the Redbirds in their 25-19 win.
Sets two and three were a battle back and forth where Valparaiso would ultimately get the wins and force the 'Birds to win the next two for the match victory. Set two saw 11 ties and five lead changes throughout and would take a score of 31-29 to determine a winner. Despite the Redbirds' best efforts, however, Valparaiso's late runs in each set gave the Beacons the 2-1 advantage heading into set four.
The Redbirds evened the match at 2-2, never trailing in the fourth set to take complete control with a .455 hitting percentage and tallying 18 kills in the set to force a fifth.
Illinois State had to fight for the victory despite taking an early 5-2 lead to start. The Beacons of Valparaiso went on a 3-0 run to tie the set up at 10 and the 'Birds and VU went point for point from that moment on, tying at 11, 12 and 13 before ISU finished the two-consecutive points to seal the victory.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Kaity Weimerskirch posted her 12th 20+ dig performance of the season, finishing with 26 on the night. With her 26 digs tonight, Weimerskirch becomes the 16th Redbird in school history to reach 1,000 career digs.
- Otene has registered at least 10 kills in every single Missouri Valley Conference match this season, including nine-game streak with 10+ kills. She has 17 total double-digit kill performances on the year after finishing with a game-high 21 against the Beacons. The sophomore outside hitter also finished the night with seven total blocks, including three solo blocks.
- Cassie Jordan posted a career-best seven kills and added nine block assists.
- Sarah Kushner joined Otene in continuing the nine-game streak of reaching double-digit kills, finishing with 13 on the night. Kushner also added another double-double to her tally, now with 14 total on the year after posting 20 digs, which matches her career best.
- Kaitlyn Prondzinski recorded 10+ kills for the second-straight match, finishing with 15 total to match her career best.
QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH LEAH JOHNSON
On the weekend sweep and Kaity Weimerskirch's milestone:
"First of all, congratulations Kaity (Weimerskirch) on hitting a milestone. I joke that I never know when anyone is about to accomplish anything, but what's fun is that the team is always hyping each other up so I was able to get up to speed this weekend. I'm very proud of the team on getting our first weekend sweep. We talk about in the locker room that it's not your reputation if you can't repeat it, it's just a one off. We're looking to be more consistent in repeating our performances and executing on that. We've got another battle ahead of us. It's about recouping, resting, reenergizing and keeping our hunger alive."
QUOTE FROM JUNIOR LIBERO KAITY WEIMERSKIRCH
On reaching the 1,000 career digs milestone:
"It really owns a lot (to reach this milestone) because of my teammates. You guys saw how they hyped me up after I got that. It's just a number to me really, I just wanted to win that game. I didn't care if we got five digs and we swept them, I wanted to sweep them, but they were a great team. I have to give big props to Cassie (Jordan) who had an outstanding blocking night and Nicole (Lund), obviously. The team defense makes it easy for me to play how I know I can. It was a fun night."
UP NEXT
The Redbirds will travel up I-74 to face Bradley on Monday night at 7 p.m. in Peoria, Illinois.
For all latest on Illinois State volleyball, stay tuned at GoRedbirds.com and follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
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October 17, 2021 at 11:32AM
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Redbirds Complete Homecoming Weekend Sweep with Five-Set Win Over Valparaiso - Illinois State University Athletics - Illinois State Athletics
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