Creighton University
ILLINOIS STATE
Volleyball Moves Into Fifth Place With 3-1 Win Over Redbirds
10/23/2009 8:45:00 PM | Volleyball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Creighton moved into sole possession of fifth place in the MVC with a 3-1 win over Illinois State, beating the Redbirds 25-23, 24-26, 25-20, 25-18 on Friday night in Omaha. The Bluejays have now won eight of the past nine meetings with the Redbirds, including the last four contests played in Omaha.
The Jays are now 8-12 overall and 5-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Illinois State is 9-12 overall and 4-6 in league play, part of a three-way tie for sixth place with Evansville and Southern Illinois.
Four players had double-figure kills for Creighton, paced by 15 from Jessica Houts, 12 each from Laurel Sanford and Alicia Runge, and 11 from Allie Oelke. Oelke led all players with a career-best 27 digs as part of her fourth straight double-double, while Megan Bober had her second straight double-dime with 47 assists and a career-best 17 digs. Creighton had 57 aces, 92 digs, 12 blocks and no aces while hitting .194.
Illinois State was led by 13 kills and 13 digs from Mallory Leggett, though the Redbird superstar also had 10 errors and hit .054 in 56 swings. Setter Jessica Pratapas overcame an early benching to finish with a double-double and accumulated 35 assists and 14 digs. The Redbirds had 54 kills, three aces, 88 digs and eight blocks while hitting .120.
Oelke served CU to a 6-0 lead to start the match and the Jays would hold off several Redbird rallies to win the first set, 25-23. After the early advantage, CU watched Illinois State draw within one at 7-6. The Redbirds would claw within one point three times in the first set, but would never draw even or ahead, as CU got five kills from Runge for the 25-23 victory.
After Creighton overcame a 24-20 second set deficit to knot the score at 24, a kill from Leggett and Bluejay attack error helped hand ISU a 26-24 victory to even the match heading to intermission. Down 24-20, CU's Houts had a hand in four straight blocks as CU tied the score before ISU would prevail. Bober nearly compiled a double-double in the second set alone, finishing with 12 assists and eight digs in the frame.
Creighton would pull away late in the third set to take the 2-1 lead in the contest. Trailing 16-15, CU would embark on a mini 3-0 run to take the lead for good. The Jays 20-18 lead moved to set point with a 4-0 run while Lisa Greisch was serving. ISU held two set points before an ISU service error ended the third set.
The fourth and final set saw an early struggle before the Jays took the wind out of the 'Birds with a 12-5 run to pull away. CU led 11-10 before a 7-1 run gave CU a comfortable lead. After three straight points from ISU prompted a Bluejay timeout, the Jays would regroup with five points in a row to go ahead 23-14. A thunderous kill by Runge on an ISU overpass ended the match.
Creighton returns to action on Saturday night with a 7 pm match against Indiana State. Creighton will wear pink jerseys and encourages fans to also wear pink as part of its annual Breast Cancer Awareness Night match.
NOTES: Creighton had a season-best 92 digs, while ISU had 88 digs. In the past three seasons (2006-08), Illinois State (3rd at 19.575 dps.) and Creighton (4th at 18.851 dps.) rank in the top nationally in digs per set ..Creighton has had 88 or more digs in each of its last five home matches against the Redbirds ...Allie Oelke owns four straight double-doubles and six in her past seven matches ...Creighton has won nine straight Friday night home matches ...Jessica Houts became the first player in CU history with four different seasons of 100 or more blocks, finishing the night with 105 rejections so far this season ...Sarah Schulze became the 16th player in CU history to appear in her 100th career match ...Sarah Schulze moved into eighth in CU history with 930 career digs, passing Shelly Kapler (922 from 1996-99) ...Creighton has had 10 or more blocks in all eight of its wins this fall ...Jessica Houts made her 108th career start, second-most in CU history and trailing only Korie Lebeda's 119 starts ...Jessica Houts moved into seventh in MVC history in career block assists with 480, passing UNI's Chris Less (476 from 1988-91) ...Lisa Greisch tied a career-high with nine digs for the second straight match ...Creighton is now 11-24 against Illinois State, but has never swept the Redbirds.
