The victory lifts Indiana State to 14-14 on the season and 6-10 in the conference and alone in sixth place in the Valley standings. The Sycamores moved a game ahead of the Drake Bulldogs who lost 3-0 at Bradley on Friday and 3-0 at Northern Iowa on Saturday to drop to 5-12 in the league.

"Our team came together tonight with one goal," Traci Dahl, Indiana State volleyball coach, said. "To win. We knew what we needed to do and they stuck to the game plan. Everyone played great tonight and we are one step closer to getting to the conference tournament. I couldn't be more proud."

Morgan Dall led the way for Indiana State with 17 kills while Shea Doran added 12. Stacey Qualizza added seven kills and moved into seventh on the all-time kill list at Indiana State with 902 career kills, passing Mary Kay Bahnaman who had 901 from 1985-1989. Dall is currently 12th on that list with 887 kills.

Shelby Fouty had 38 assists in the game and moved up to seventh on the all-time list with 1,788 career assists. She moved past Amy Henken who had 1,755 assists from 1997-1997. Kiya James led the defense with 15 digs which gives her 1,664 career digs which ranks third on the ISU all-time list.

The Sycamores and Redbirds battled nearly even throughout the evening. The opening set was tied nine times, the last at 15 after Illinois State's LeighAnn Hranka scored on a kill. The Sycamores came right back with a pair of Dall kills and one from Doran to jump out to an 18-15 advantage. The Redbirds were able to whittle the lead back to one but ISU would not surrender the lead and moved out to a 23-18 advantage on a Samantha Kersting service ace. Illinois State scored three straight points but a Doran kill and a Redbird error gave ISU the set win 25-21.

The second set was tied 10 times and Indiana State had to fight from behind throughout the early going. The Sycamores rallied from a 13-11 deficit to take a 14-13 lead on a Doran kill. Illinois State was able to tie the set at 14 but two Redbird errors put ISU back on top for good at 16-14. The Sycamores had their biggest lead at 24-20 but were denied set point twice before ISU was able to take advantage of an Illinois State attack error and post a 25-22 win.

The third set was just as close as the first two sets with the Redbirds holding the advantage most of the way. Qualizza brought the Sycamores back, recording two straight kills and a block to put ISU on top 22-20. Emily Schneider brought Illinois State back to within one but back-to-back blocks by Fouty and Dall put ISU on top 24-21. The Redbirds fought back, denying the Sycamores set point twice before Dall knocked down the game winner off a set from Fouty.

Monique Morris added six kills during the night while Fouty and Kersting had one each. Dall also had three aces while Loni Mackinson contributed 10 digs, two digs and an ace.

Hranka had 10 kills for Illinois State while Shannon McGlaughlin had eight and Schneider seven.

Indiana State closes out the regular season by hosting Missouri State Friday and Wichita State Saturday. The Sycamores will honor three seniors on Saturday including Shelbi Fouty, Kiya James and Stacy Qualizza.

GAME NOTES:

The win snapped a six game losing streak to the Redbirds as Indiana State won for the first time over Illinois State since a 3-1 victory on the home court in 2008.

The win was also the fourth straight conference victory for Indiana State which the Sycamores have not accomplished since the 2003 season.

The 14 season wins is the most for an Indiana State team since the 2003 team finished the campaign at 14-15. The six conference wins is the most for a Sycamore team since ISU recorded eight conference victories in 2004, the last year Indiana State went to the MVC post-season tournament.