By ISU Sports Information
WICHITA, Kan. – Jaelyn Keene tallied her 1,000th career kill early in Friday’s match at Wichita State, but it wasn’t enough as the Redbirds fell to the Shockers, 3-1, at Koch Arena. Wichita State won by scores of 25-13, 28-30, 25-15, 25-18.
Keene needed just four kills to achieve the career milestone and reached the 1,000-kill plateau early in the first set. The junior middle blocker led the Redbirds Friday with team-high totals of 16 kills and five blocks.
Ali Line added 12 kills and three blocks for Illinois State. Jordan Weatherless dished out 23 of the Redbirds’ 45 assists and Courtney Pence collected a match-high 24 digs.
The Redbirds were unable to overcome Wichita State’s powerful duo of Mikaela Raudsepp and Tabitha Brown, however, as the pair tallied 19 and 20 kills, respectively.
“Wichita was very efficient in the first set. We did a great job rebounding from that set and got our offense going in the second,” said Illinois State head coach Melissa Myers. “We couldn’t sustain that into the third and fourth sets, but we know it’s there. Jaelyn and Ali stepped up tonight and made some great plays, despite a strong Wichita defense.”
Wichita State (19-7, 12-3 MVC) led wire-to-wire in the opening set, although the Redbirds kept it close early. A kill from Line got the Redbirds within three, at 16-13, but the Shockers finished off the set on a nine-point run, which included three kills from Raudsepp, the final one on set point.
A much closer second set came down to the final points and both teams had multiple chances to take the set. Wichita State was the first team to get to a set point, at 24-23, but Illinois State (16-11, 9-6) fought it off with a kill from Line. The Shockers then fought off three Redbird set points in a row before getting to their second set point, which was thwarted with a kill from Keene, who followed that up with another to get the Redbirds to their fourth set point. A Wichita State attacking error on the next point evened the match at one set apiece.
A fast start for the Shockers in the third set helped the hosts take a 2-1 lead in the match. Wichita State ran out to an early lead by scoring 16-of-20 points after the Redbirds took an early 3-2 lead. A kill from Brown on set point pushed the Shockers ahead in the match.
A back-and-forth fourth set saw the Redbirds take a 15-13 lead into the media timeout, only to see Wichita State grab control of the set coming out of the break. The Shockers scored seven-straight points to force both Redbird timeouts and finished the match on an 11-2 run to earn the victory.
The Redbirds return to action Saturday night with a match at league-leading Missouri State at 7 p.m. Links for live video, audio and stats are available at GoRedbirds.com, and fans can follow @RedbirdVB on Twitter for live updates and more.
