It was an extremely busy weekend for Indiana State athletics this weekend.
After the Indiana State basketball teams got practice under way in Hulman Center — more on that later — I had an opportunity to see the second half of the Sycamores volleyball team in a heated match against Illinois State. In front of a solid crowd, first-year coach Traci Dahl’s team improved to 2-7 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
OK, big deal, you might be thinking.
It is a big deal for a program that’s struggled as much or more than ISU football in recent seasons.
Dahl took over a team that, like coach Trent Miles with the football program, went absolutely winless during the 2007 season. Not only that, but the Sycamores had lost 33 straight MVC matches until they defeated Bradley this season.
Bradley is 0-9, so beating them is nice, but beating an Illinois State team that had a winning record (10-9, 4-4 MVC) before arriving in Terre Haute this weekend is a much bigger deal.
“It seems to me all of there was all these clouds hanging over the team’s head,” Dahl said. “They’ve got a get an MVC win, got to get a road win. We’re slowly but surely tackling all of these clouds.”
The Sycamores took fourth-place Missouri State to five sets at Springfield, Mo., and also lost in five to Drake, whom they are tied with in the standings for eighth place.
They hope to have built momentum Friday. Illinois State looked poised to steal the fourth set after Indiana State built an early lead. The set was tied at 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28. The Sycamores showed some killer instinct and didn’t allow the match to go a fifth set.
“We’ve been close. What we’ve been working on in practice is closing out the match, closing out the match because these girls have been struggling getting over the hump of the fifth game,” Dahl said. “The tight close games, to get us the lead we weren’t able to do it. [Friday] we just kept battling back and got after it. It paid off. This was a well deserved win.”
Junior Jodi Stoker finished off the match with three straight kills to give her a career-high 25 on the night. Stoker’s leadership as well as the defensive leadership of senior Kristy Cox, who had 20 digs, were signs that ISU could turn the conference season around.
“We’ve really been training for these close matches,” Stoker said. “We’ve really been working on playing point for point. We’ve really been training for matches like this. We still have a chance to make the conference tournament. This win was big for our chances and to get us some momentum going into the second half of conference play.”
Those words are music to Dahl’s ears.
“Jodi’s a trooper,” Dahl said. “She worked hard for the win, all of them worked real hard. Every time that they get over this hump, they’re not going to go back. Once you get over all these obstacles, there’s no going back.”
The Sycamores’ next home match is Halloween night against No. 14 Wichita State, who has won 33 straight MVC matches, a conference record. At least that tough match will be out of the way with eight more left to climb two spots in the standings.
• ISU hoops — Coach Jim Wiedie had as much energy as I’ve seen at a first day practice. During the entire practice/scrimmage, he was constantly praising his freshmen — he has seven of them so that’s a lot of praise — and veterans.
The eighth newcomer, University of Illinois transfer Chelsea Buher, is going to be a first-team all-conference player in the Missouri Valley Conference at some point in her career. The sophomore is unable to play this winter due to NCAA transfer rules, but she’s 6-foot tall and appears to have a wide array of skills from ballhandling to passing to shooting the 3-pointer.
ISU will have a player available with multiple skills as well in freshman Deja Mattox. The Sycamores have no true post-up player anymore with Laura Rudolphi — who was visiting with former teammates at the Big Blue Block Party — moving on to graduate school.
Mattox could have the ability to step in and score double figures as a freshman. She showed her ability to drive to the basket during the scrimmage, and her mid-range jumper looks like a strength.
Without a low post player like Rudolphi, Wiedie sees this team getting back to a lot of pressing. Freshman Bianca Jarrett’s quickness on defense is her biggest strength, and adding her to the offensive abilities of Kelsey Luna and Leah Phillips could be a winning combination.
“You might see us now, getting back to 3 or 4 years ago when we had Stephanie Lisch playing kind of that 4 position,” Wiedie said.
Lisch was a guard playing a post position, which was also made possible by Lisch’s ability to defend and rebound against a lot of players.
“We might be able to do that with Deja Mattox or a Kayla Mullins,” Wiedie said. “We’ll get back to that pressing style and wearing people down. [Their success] depends on how quickly the freshmen come around.”
• In the hour of practice I saw, the men’s team has a lot of length that could make it a strong defensive team as Coach Kevin McKenna likes to employ a matchup zone.
Jay Tunnell could be poised to play more minutes — he averaged 22.5 last year — after shedding a few pounds that could help ease the pressure on his troublesome knees.
“I want him to be able to play a little bit more on the perimeter, taking advantage of his strength shooting the ball,” McKenna said of his 6-8 senior that shot 32 percent from beyond the 3-point line last year. “If you’re in better shape and have the experience Jay has, you better be out on the floor.”
Craig Pearson can be reached by e-mail at craig.pearson@tribstar.com or by phone at (812) 231-4357.
Given to Fly
October 19, 2008
Given To Fly: ISU volleyball turning things around
- Given to Fly
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GIVEN TO FLY: Come to expect new standards of excellence
Records are definitely meant to be broken; athletes today are faster and stronger than those in the past in many endeavors in athletics.
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GIVEN TO FLY: ISU women have solid recruiting class
The caliber of athletes that the Indiana State women’s basketball coaching staff is bringing in is on an upswing.
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GIVEN TO FLY: Major leaguers John, Dorsett meet up at tonight’s game
Terre Haute’s only two big leaguers of the last 50 years — Tommy John and Brian Dorsett — will catch up with one another today.
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FOOT NOTES: Valley natives perform well on national stage
Several Wabash Valley natives continue to shine on the national track and field scene.
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'Til It's Over: Sycamores ‘in a good place,’ but searching for more in MVC
Can Teri Moren lift Indiana State, last year’s seventh-place team in the Missouri Valley Conference, to one of the league’s contenders in her first year on campus?
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'Til It's Over: Two sets of identical twins should keep North Central baseball a contender
The last high school baseball team standing in the Wabash Valley was the North Central, the Thunderbirds falling short 4-3 in the Class A Semistate on Saturday just one game shy of Victory Field.
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'Til It's Over: Jarvis, Anderson confident Olney, hard work leads to Division I dream
Olney, Ill., population 8,000-plus and known for its population of white squirrels, might not be the dream destination for high school basketball players in Indiana.
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'Til It's Over: Robinson 7-footer more focused in postseason; 6-foot Jones keeps producing
Robinson 7-footer Meyers Leonard is not going to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA some day, but his odds of reaching the league are pretty solid if his game continues to evolve as it has during high school.
- 'Til It's Over: ‘Stepping stone’ game points Sycamores in right direction Whether the win comes against a top-25 team or a conference pushover, ending a four-game losing streak is always a relief.
- 'Til It's Over: Indianapolis ISU recruit rolling along in senior season As Indiana State recruit Anna Munn approached Christmas with the Decatur Central basketball team, the senior guard didn’t seem to need much of a wishlist.
- 'Til It's Over: Magic’s still there for '79 Sycamores For the former Indiana State players who visited the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in late November, the weekend was a chance to relive memories with teammates and see Larry Bird’s career with the Sycamores celebrated again.
- CRAIG PEARSON: North has strong history in cross country state finals Vigo County is home to just four IHSAA state championships in team sports. Most recently, Terre Haute South won girls titles in basketball (2002) and tennis (2001).
- 'Till It's Over: It’s been rough year but no need to break up Cubs' core Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry is only in the first year of a three-year contract, and aren’t back-to-back division championships enough to keep him around despite this year’s season filled with bad luck?
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'Til It's Over: Hansbrough, Hibbert give Pacers glimpse of future
You might have heard of the Indiana Pacers’ 2009 first-round draft pick. He was on the television once in a while during his four-year career at North Carolina.
- 'Til It's Over: Bertoli, Moore put on show in abundance of events “Anthony and Erica” may not have the marketing capability of “Dan and Dave,” but neither of Indiana State’s outstanding multi-event participants had let-down performances this weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference Championships.
- ‘Walking wounded’: ISU seniors return to provide spark All three ISU seniors will graduate in May, and all three will be in uniform today as Indiana State battles Bradley in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament quarterfinals.
- Given to Fly: Northview standout runner Thacker coming to ISU Doc Brown told an old-timer in a saloon in “Back to the Future III” that despite having automobiles in the future people run for recreation.
- Given to Fly: Schilli’s Rodman-like performance aids ISU With Indiana State’s women’s basketball team ranking eighth in the Missouri Valley Conference in field-goal percentage (36.5), the Sycamores need as many shot attempts as possible to maintain their standing on top of the league.
- Given to Fly: A classic in every sense of the word What tournament director and co-founder Gary Fears had in mind when creating the tournament came to fruition Tuesday. Marshall, with an enrollment of 438 students, became the smallest school to win the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic in the ninth season of the tourney.
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Given to Fly: ISU women should build confidence off strong outing
Indiana State did not pull off the monumental upset Saturday against No. 23 Kansas State, but the Wildcats are —aside from Connecticut in 2005 — the best team the Sycamores have played in the Jim Wiedie era.
- Given to Fly: ISU women's hoops team slides onto commercial radio Coach Jim Wiedie expects the Indiana State women’s basketball team to have a bit of a retro feel this season, meaning the Sycamores have the potential to get back to creating havoc with their full-court press.
- Given to Fly: ISU vets hope to prove pundits wrong Indiana State’s only two seniors were surprised to see they were picked ahead of just three Missouri Valley Conference women’s basketball teams Tuesday morning.
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Footnotes: In first marathon, former Sycamore comes out a winner
Indiana State graduate Dani Prince made her debut in the event with a victory in the Columbus Marathon on Sunday.
Prince’s goal was a time under 2 hours and 50 minutes, and she ran a 2:48.56. -
Given To Fly: ISU volleyball turning things around
It was an extremely busy weekend for Indiana State athletics this weekend.
- Footnotes: Here’s hoping perfect weather is still around for Nationals in November The weather made for a perfect fall afternoon Saturday at LaVern Gibson Championship Course. For what it’s worth, the Farmer’s Almanac calls for more sunny conditions from Nov. 20-24, with the NCAA Championships falling on the 24th this year.
- Terre Haute natives cherish memories of ‘House that Ruth Built’ Yankee Stadium was packed as usual on Easter Sunday in 1979. George Steinbrenner’s Yankees were one loss away from being swept by the Milwaukee Brewers to start the season. That was no way for the two-time defending World Series champions to perform, so the boss had a conversation with his new veteran left-handed starting pitcher prior to the game.
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Footnotes: Oregon men and women have strangehold on preseason NCAA cross countryrankings
The Oregon men and women were almost both unanimous picks as the No. 1 teams in the nation in the preseason cross country national rankings released recently.
- Given to Fly: Bronze medalist has strong ISU ties One of the remarkable American medalists of this 2008 Olympics thus far also provided one of the most sparkling stories in the brief history of the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course here in Terre Haute.
- Former ISU QB gets back to Amarillo This week, Indiana State signed its most highly-touted football prospect in years, and former quarterback Julian Reese is ripping it up for the Amarillo Dusters of Arena2.
- Indiana State track sending strong group to NCAA regional Three sophomore women and three senior men lead a large Indiana State contingent of track and field athletes into the NCAA Mideast Regional this weekend at Fayetteville, Ark.
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