Illinois State Volleyball Sweeps Oakland Invite

Image courtesy of Illinois State Athletics

ROCHESTER, Mic. — Coming off a successful Linda Herman Classic,  Illinois State Volleyball traveled to Michigan to compete in the the Oakland invitational. In the two day weekend tournament, the Redbirds swept both Marist and Oakland University, marking nine straight victories in the state of Michigan for the program.

On Saturday, Illinois State faced Marist, who were coming into the invitational off a three win weekend. The Redbirds were off to a good early start after getting the first three kills of the set going up 3-1. They continued to stretch their lead going on a 6-0 run bringing the lead to 12-4. The Red Foxes began to claw their way back to close the gap at eight, but not before the Redbirds shut down the comeback, winning the first set 25-17.

The second set opened with a back and forth battle in which the first lead went to the Red Foxes. The Redbirds did not let the deficit stop them, scoring five of the next six points giving Illinois State the two point advantage. Now leading 16-14, the Redbirds exploded scoring four consecutive points closing out the set 25-19.

The Redbirds led the match two sets to none, and started the third set strong with an early 4-0 scoring run. It was a back and fourth set, seeing the Red Foxes narrowing the gap to gain a late 18-16 lead. However, the Redbirds fought back, going on another 4-0 scoring run. This forced Marist to take a timeout with Illinois State having a 20-18 lead. A Redbirds sideout then lead to them scoring five of the last seven points, securing the 25-22 set and match win.

This match marked the Redbirds’ seventh sweep of the season. Three Redbirds recorded double-digit kills in the match: junior Oliwia Caputa and freshman Jillian Ferrill each had 13 kills, while sophomore Jillian Gregory had 10.

On Sunday, Illinois State took on Oakland, which was coming off a loss at a three-day invitational the previous weekend. In the first set, the Grizzlies scored the first three points. Despite numerous ties and short runs from Illinois State, the Grizzlies remained in the lead. The Redbirds then scored four consecutive points, turning a 16-15 deficit into a 19-16 lead. From there, Illinois State never looked back, winning the first set 25-22.

In set two, both team went back and forth, in which the Grizzlies used a 6-1 run to stretch a two point lead. Oakland held onto the lead at 12-7, but Illinois State started to claw their way back going on a 4-0 scoring run. Redbirds turned a two point deficit into a two point lead at 22-20. The Grizzles fought back to tie the set at 22-22 before Illinois State took off and scored the final three points of the set at 25-22.

With Illinois State nearing another sweep, set three began with back to back aces from sophomore Ella Craggs, giving the Redbirds a 3-0 lead. the Grizzlies were able to come back, taking a two point lead at 8-6. The teams traded punches before the Grizzlies ran off on a three consecutive point lead with the set at 21-18. The Redbirds answered back with a 5-0 run, turning the three point deficit to a three point advantage. The last three points of that run came off of four straight kills from Ferrill. The finishing blow way delivered by  senior Abby Reck, ending the set 25-23 and securing the sweep.

With this win Illinois State moves to 9-2 which is the best 11 game to start a season for the Redbirds since 2004.

Next up, the Redbirds travel to take on UIC on Friday, Sept. 25, the first Missouri Valley Conference match for the team.

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