It went right down to the wire, but for the first time in seven five-set matches this season, the Valpo volleyball team came out on the wrong end of the decisive fifth frame, as host Illinois State earned a 3-2 (25-19, 29-31, 20-25, 25-17, 15-13) win Saturday evening. During the match, fifth-year setter Brittany Anderson (East Chicago, Ind./Bishop Noll) moved into the top-20 in Missouri Valley Conference history in career assists.

How It Happened

• Valpo scored the first point of the fifth set before the Redbirds scored five of the next six to take a 5-2 lead and force a Valpo timeout. Out of the stoppage, the two sides traded sideouts before the Beacons tallied three straight points — the final two coming on kills by Maddy Boyer (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) — to force an ISU timeout at 6-6.
• The Redbirds came out of the break with three consecutive points of their own as Valpo took a timeout at 9-6. But again, the stoppage seemed to shift momentum, as Illinois State took its final timeout after Valpo scored three of the next four to move within 10-9.
• With both teams’ allotment of timeouts erased, Boyer notched another kill to tie the frame at 10-all. An ISU kill was followed by a Redbird error to make it 11-11, and fifth-year middle Peyton McCarthy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seton) followed with a kill to give Valpo the lead at 12-11, its first advantage since 1-0.
• A service error and an ISU kill returned the lead to the Redbirds at 13-12, but the hosts followed with a service error of their own to make it a race to two at 13-13. ISU came out on top, though, as a Valpo attack error and an ISU kill closed the match.
• An 8-0 run for the Redbirds early in the first set gave them control, as they led 14-4 and their lead never fell under five points the rest of the way.
• In sharp contrast to the way the first set went, the second set featured 11 ties and five lead changes and went deep into extra points. It looked like Valpo had a path to the win leading 21-18 before the Redbirds scored five in a row to make it 23-21 ISU.
• Valpo came back with three straight points, the last coming on a kill from senior middle Haley Hart (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East), to earn its first set point at 24-23.
• Each of the Beacons’ first five set point opportunities were thwarted by the Redbirds, while Valpo held off an ISU set point chance at 28-27. Finally, leading 30-29, Valpo got a solo block from McCarthy on an attempted setter dump to even the match at one set apiece.
• The third set featured a number of spurts from each side, but it was Valpo which came up with the biggest run, as it reeled off five points in a row late — including two kills from Boyer and capped by a service ace by fifth-year libero Rylee Cookerly (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) — to go up 23-18.
• ISU scored the next two points to move within three, but Valpo closed out the set with consecutive points to go up 2-1 in the match.
• The fourth set was controlled by the Redbirds from the start, as they hit .455 in the frame and never trailed to force the fifth frame.

Inside the Match

• The loss was Valpo’s first in a five-set match this year, as it had won all six five-set affairs this season.
• In fact, Saturday snapped a nine-match winning streak in five-set matches dating back to last season, a streak which ironically started with a five-set win at Illinois State in February — a match which featured Valpo’s most lopsided fifth-set win in program history.
• Anderson handed out 23 assists to lead Valpo on Saturday and ended the night with 4,257 career assists, in the process moving into 20^th place in MVC history in the category.
• Both of Valpo’s setters posted double-doubles, as Anderson recorded 10 digs as well, while sophomore Victoria Bulmahn (McCordsville, Ind./Mt. Vernon) notched 17 assists and 10 digs.
• The Valpo middles tied for team-high honors with 14 kills apiece. Hart registered a team-best seven blocks to go with her 14 kills, while McCarthy was in on four blocks, three of which were solo rejections.
• Boyer tallied 10 kills against the Redbirds and reached double figures in terminations in both matches this weekend after hitting the 10-kill mark just twice in her career prior to the weekend.
• Junior Bella Ravotto (Mishawaka, Ind./Marian) paced the back line with 18 digs.

Next Up

Valpo (13-6, 4-4 MVC) returns home to the ARC for a key weekend of MVC action next weekend, starting with a Friday night match against Missouri State. First serve is slated for 6 p.m., and the match can be seen live on The Valley on ESPN.