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| SportsThursday, August 16, 2007 3:04 PM CDT |
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ISU volleyball picked 5th in MVC, yearns for NCAA bid
NORMAL — Since the first NCAA Division I women’s volleyball tournament in 1981, Illinois State has made nine appearances. | Photo gallery The Redbirds’ first NCAA berth came in 1982 and they never had a drought of more than four years away from the NCAAs until their current slump reached eight years last season. This year’s squad hopes to rectify that, but it won’t be easy judging by the Missouri Valley Conference preseason coaches’ poll released Wednesday. The Redbirds were picked fifth despite returning seven players with starting experience including five who earned some type of all-MVC recognition. Joining them is a five-player freshman class PrepVolleyball.com ranked among the top 70 nationally. “There’re probably about 300 teams right now who would say that’s one of their goals,” said ISU coach Sharon Dingman referring to a spot in the 64-team NCAA Tournament. “It certainly is one of our goals. It has to be at Illinois State.” Dingman said during Media Day festivities at Redbird Arena on Wednesday her team wants to improve upon last year’s 17-12 overall record and 11-7 mark for fifth in the MVC. That will be a challenge because reigning league champion Northern Iowa returns all but one starter and 2006 runner-up Wichita State returns every starter. Northern Iowa was picked first in the coaches’ poll followed by Wichita State, Creighton and Missouri State. “The level of players in our league is crazy right now,” said Dingman, 126-86 in seven years at ISU. “I think 80 percent of the players are returning.” Dingman believes the top five teams are close in talent. “I think if the season plays out how it should and the conference stays healthy, we should see five teams in the top 50 (nationally),” she said. ISU’s nonconference schedule is also challenging with No. 7-nationally ranked Florida visiting Redbird Arena in the season opener at 7 p.m. Aug. 24 and No. 16 Ohio State visiting Sept. 11. “We’ve done our part in scheduling,” Dingman said. “Our players have to do the competitive part and our coaches have to do their part in preparing and it should be a great season.” Dingman has new assistants in former ISU star Laura (Doornbos) Ludwig and Chris Gaskill. They joined the squad’s 13-day trip last May to Europe, where ISU went 1-6. The Redbirds boast a pair of returning first-team all-MVC stars in Erin Lindsey and M.C. Richmond. “I think our team is going to be better than last year,” said Lindsey, a junior setter in her third year as a starter. “We have height. We have athleticism. We have speed. We have experience.” In Lindsey, ISU also has a person with a career average of 12.51 assists per game, the most in school history. “Erin Lindsey is as fit as any athlete I’ve ever coached coming into the season,” Dingman said. “She’s incredibly competitive, more so than I’ve ever seen her be.” The 5-11 Richmond, a junior right-side hitter, became a force last season as ISU won 13 of its last 18 matches. Her 3.16 kills per game and .246 hitting percentage ranked second on the team behind Kari Staehlin’s marks of 3.58 and .266, respectively. Richmond is also training to be the backup setter since Jessica Pratapas, a redshirt sophomore, was lost for the season to a knee injury. She will have surgery Aug. 27. Staehlin, a 6-2 middle blocker, and 6-1 middle Kristin Dziubla are the only seniors. Dziubla started nine matches last year while 6-foot sophomore Katie Seyller of Bloomington started 20 and averaged 2.07 kills on .219 hitting en route to MVC All-Newcomer Team honors. Also making the All-Newcomer Team was sophomore libero Kasey Mollerus, who averaged 4.97 digs per game on the way to 576, just five off the school record. Joining Richmond as a returning outside hitter is 5-11 sophomore Peggy Riessen, who started 13 matches. Rounding out the returnees is junior defensive specialist Amy Olson, a Central Catholic graduate expected to see more court time this season. The promising freshmen include 6-1 outside hitter Mallory Leggett of Maroa, 6-3 middle Katie Culbertson of Rockton, 6-2 middle Hailey Kelley of Chicago Heights, 5-9 outside hitter Jagoda Pstras (pronounced Yuh-GO-da PIS-trahsh) of Poland and 5-5 defensive specialist Elly Kaiser, a recruited walk-on from Champaign Centennial. Leggett and Pstras are contending for a starting job, according to Dingman, but will they taste NCAA excitement before they graduate? “To win our MVC Tournament and go to the NCAA Tournament, that’s our biggest goal,” Staehlin said. “We have the talent and the team chemistry you need to make these things happen.” Valley viewMVC coaches’ poll First-place votes in arentheses. Team, Pts. 1. Northern Iowa (7), 97 2. Wichita State (1), 85 3. Creighton (2), 81 4. Missouri State, 71 5. Illinois State, 65 6. Southern Illinois, 39 7. Evansville, 38 8. Bradley, 33 9. Indiana State, 13 Preseason All-MVC Team Player, team, Pos., Year, Ht. Kelly Goc, Creighton, MB, Sr., 6-2 Abby Harsh, WSU, S, Sr., 5-11 Angela Jakubov, WSU, MB, Jr., 6-1 Erin Lindsey, ISU, S, Jr., 5-7 Sara Lungren, WSU, OH, Sr., 6-4 Katelyn Panzau, MSU, S, Sr., 5-11 M.C. Richmond, ISU, OH, Sr., 6-0 ISU factsCOACH: Sharon Dingman, 8th season (7-year record 126-86) 2006 RECORD: Won 17, Lost 13 (11-7 in MVC) RETURNEES Player, Pos., Class, Ht. Kristin Dziubla, MB, Senior, 6-1 Karie Staehlin, MB, Senior , 6-2 Erin Lindsey, S, Junior, 5-7 M.C. Richmond, OH, Junior, 5-11 Amy Olson, DS, Junior, 5-4 Kasey Mollerus, Lib, Soph, 5-4 Peggy Riessen, OH, Soph, 5-11 Katie Seyller, MB, Soph, 6-0 Jessica Pratapas^, S, Soph, 5-10 OTHER SQUAD MEMBERS Katie Culbertson, MB, Frosh, 6-3 Elly Kaiser, DS, Frosh, 5-5 Jagoda Pstras, OH, Frosh, 5-9 Mallory Leggett, OH, Frosh, 6-0 Hailey Kelley, MB, Frosh, 6-2 ^ -- injured and out for the season. SCHEDULE Aug. 24 -- Florida, 7 p.m. Aug. 25 -- Redbird Classic: vs. Miami (Ohio), noon; vs. Valparaiso, 7 p.m. Aug. 28 -- At Northern Illinois, 7 p.m. Aug. 31 -- Academy Sports Invitational at Tuscaloosa, Ala.: vs. Sacramento State, 10 a.m.; vs. Alabama-Birmingham, 4:30 p.m. Sept. 1 -- At Alabama, 7 p.m. Sept. 4 -- Saint Louis, 7 p.m. Sept. 8 -- Ball State Tournament at Muncie, Ind.: vs. Eastern Illniois, 12:30 p.m.; vs. Ball State, 7 p.m. Sept. 11 -- Ohio State, 7 p.m. Sept. 14 -- At Southern Illinois^, 7 p.m. Sept. 15 -- At Evansville^, 7 p.m. Sept. 21 -- Wichita State^, 7 p.m. Sept. 22 -- Missouri State^, 7 p.m. Sept. 28 -- At Creighton^, 7 p.m. Sept. 29 -- At Drake^, 7 p.m. Oct. 5 -- At Bradley^, 7 p.m. Oct. 6 -- Northern Iowa^, 7 p.m. Oct. 13 -- At Indiana State^, 7 p.m. Oct. 19 -- At Missouri State^, 7 p.m. Oct. 20 -- At Wichita State^, 7 p.m. Oct. 26 -- Drake^, 7 p.m. Oct. 27 -- Creighton^, 7 p.m. Nov. 2 -- At Northern Iowa^, 7 p.m. Nov. 3 -- Bradley^, 7 p.m. Nov. 8 -- Indiana State^, 8 p.m. Nov. 16 -- Evansville^, 7 p.m. Nov. 17 -- Southern Illinois^, 7 p.m. Nov. 23-24 -- State Farm MVC Tournament at Springfield, Mo. ^ -- MVC matches. Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.
To Gee I think wrote on Aug 24, 2007 6:52 AM:
go redbirds wrote on Aug 18, 2007 6:08 PM:
Face The Facts wrote on Aug 17, 2007 10:18 AM:
Agree: out of the hunt wrote on Aug 16, 2007 10:24 PM:
RE: Out of the Hunt wrote on Aug 16, 2007 1:57 PM:
Gee I think .... wrote on Aug 16, 2007 12:54 PM:
Wat Tyler wrote on Aug 16, 2007 7:29 AM:
FE wrote on Aug 16, 2007 7:13 AM:
Out of the Hunt wrote on Aug 16, 2007 6:34 AM:
Katie Seyller wrote on Aug 16, 2007 12:30 AM:
GO Lady RedBirds!!! wrote on Aug 15, 2007 10:15 PM:
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