Redbirds soar above Golden Eagles
December 04, 2014 | Volleyball
Dec. 4, 2014
MADISON, Wis. -- The Illinois State women's volleyball team overcame a two-set deficit to defeat Marquette 3-2 Thursday night in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament at the UW Field House.
With the 23-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-13 win, ISU advances to the NCAA second round match at the UW Field House Friday night. Marquette ended the season with a 24-9 record.
It was an evenly-matched first set that saw 12 tied scores, but Marquette managed to take two straight points at the end of the set to seal a 25-23 win. The Golden Eagles hit .208 (16 kills -6 errors-48 attempts) in the first, while ISU hit .146 (13-6-48).
MU pulled away early in the second set and held on to a comfortable lead throughout, upping its attack percentage to .300 (16-4-40) in the 25-19 set victory.
But the Redbirds were able to swing the momentum and take the third set 25-22, outdigging the Golden Eagles 26-22 and putting away 19 kills compared to MU's 13.
The teams recorded similar hitting percentages and two blocks apiece in the fourth set, but Illinois State claimed a 25-22 win with the help of five MU service errors.
Marquette created a 10-5 advantage in the final set, but a 5-0 run for ISU ensued to knot the score at 10-10. Back-and-forth kills brought the score to 13-13 before ISU delivered the final blow with two kills to win the set 15-13.
MU's Autumn Bailey led all players with a career-high 32 kills, helping push the Golden Eagles to a .199 (69-26-216) overall attack percentage. ISU hit .176 (67-31-204) overall. MU outblocked Illinois State 13-8, but made 10 service errors in the match.
Illinois State will play the winner of Thursday night's match between Western Michigan and fourth-seeded Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at 7 p.m. at the UW Field House.
