Wichita State volleyball slips past Illinois State 3-1

Wichita State started Missouri Valley Conference play uncertain of its scoring from the left. After two matches, the situation looks improved.

“Through all the pressure they’ve been under, they found some comfort,” coach Chris Lamb said. “They’ve kind of grown up before our eyes. We’ve found the speed that they hit well and Emily Hiebert’s done a great job with that.”

The Shockers, for a second straight night, rebounded from losing the first set and defeated Illinois State 3-1 (25-27, 25-23, 25-23, 25-22) on Saturday night at Koch Arena. WSU (11-5, 2-0 MVC) snapped a two-match losing streak to the Redbirds (10-5, 0-2). Illinois State, who went 18-0 on the way to winning the MVC regular-season and tournament titles, is saddled with the burden that no team has won the MVC title after an 0-2 start.

Lamb did his customary statistical calculating after the match and pointed to WSU’s 18 errors on 164 swings as the magic number in winning three close sets. The Shockers finished with a .293 attack percentage, the highest allowed by Illinois State since its opening match. Sophomore Mikaela Raudsepp recorded a season-high 16 kills and hit .225. Freshman Shimen Fayad added nine kills and erred once in the first three sets before three in the fourth dropped her attack percentage to .152.

With middles Abbie Lehman and Katie Reilly constants, Lamb needs pin players to fill out his scoring.

“Being able to be that efficient on the left, it’s been awhile since we’ve found that with a pair of outside hitters,” he said. “They managed the ball really good tonight and actually brought scoring with it.”

Raudsepp, after not playing in Friday’s first set, gave the Shockers a boost in a 3-1 win over Indiana State. She kept that roll going on Saturday.

“It comes down to having confidence,” she said. “I had people right behind me all night tonight helping, telling me where to hit, telling me what’s open on the block.”

Reilly led the Shockers with 17 kills, six in the final set, and her continued proficiency hitting slides gave WSU a consistent threat. Lehman hit .458 with 11 kills and six block assists. Hiebert recorded five kills, 52 assists and 16 digs.

The Shockers turned around the match with their blocking and finished with 12 blocks, eight more than the Redbirds. Reilly, who had eight block assists, and Lehman held up Illinois State’s offense with their work at the net.

“Abbie rocks,” Reilly said. “I didn’t touch a lot of those balls, I just set the block up and then Abbie was the one who actually stuffed it.”

Aly Dawson and Ashley Rosch both had 14 kills for the Redbirds, who were swept at Missouri State on Friday.

Raudsepp’s kill broke a 22-all tie in the fourth set and an attack error gave WSU a 24-22 lead. Raudsepp’s final kill of the night ended the match.

The Shockers led 20-15 in the fourth set before the Redbirds ran off five points, tying it on Raudsepp’s attack error.

Five service errors hurt the Shockers in the first set, one in which they committed two fewer attack errors than the Redbirds and out-blocked them 4-0. WSU, down 22-19, tied the match 23-all before Hannah Shelton’s serve sailed long. Hiebert’s kill tied the match again before Reilly’s attack error gave the Redbirds a 26-25 lead.

The Shockers led 8-3 in the second set with Raudsepp recording three of their points. WSU then squandered leads of 20-17 and 22-20, allowing Illinois State to take a 23-22 lead.

Lehman’s kill tied the set. MaryAshton Floyd’s ace, which struck the tape on the net and dribbled off the flat hand of Ashley Rosch for an ace. After another good serve by Floyd scrambled the Redbirds, Hiebert’s one-handed flip ended the set.

Raudsepp led WSU with five kills in the second set, giving her eight on 15 swings in the match. Illinois State’s Aly Dawson totaled six in the first set and three in the second.

Reilly ended the third set, fittingly, with a kill off a slide. She recorded six kills in the set, including one to pull WSU even at 22 after trailing 22-19. Hiebert’s block gave WSU a 23-22 lead and she scored in the middle of the court for a 24-22 lead.

This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 9:23 PM with the headline "Wichita State volleyball slips past Illinois State 3-1."