Shocker volleyball survives in five sets at Illinois State

Wichita State beat Illinois State 3-2 (23-25, 25-22, 26-24, 19-25, 17-15) on Friday in Normal, Ill., to remain atop the Missouri Valley Conference volleyball standings.

Illinois State was one point from winning the match, up 14-12 in the fifth set, but a service error allowed WSU to stay alive, then kills by Jody Larson and Mikaela Raudsepp put the Shockers ahead 15-14. Illinois State pulled even on a kill by Jaelyn Keene, but WSU put the match away with kills by Katie Reilly, then Larson.

Illinois State sent the match to a final game with a late run in the fourth set. With WSU leading 16-15, the Redbirds reeled off a 7-2 run that included five WSU attack errors.

After hitting .100 in the fourth set, the Shockers bounced back with a .462 attack percentage in the fifth set.

Larson led WSU with 19 kills and 24 digs. Shimen Fayad had 14 kills, Raudsepp and Abbie Lehman had 12 and Reilly had 11.

The win was WSU’s second consecutive five-set win, after beating Loyola last Saturday. WSU lost the fourth and was done match point in the fifth set that night, too.

Wichita State (17-6, 8-1 MVC) is alone at the top of the MVC. Illinois State was one of five teams that began Friday with three coference losses.

WSU plays at Indiana State on Saturday.

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 9:15 PM with the headline "Shocker volleyball survives in five sets at Illinois State."