CHARLESTON, Ill. – Junior middle hitter Melody Burdette continued on a tear through the first part of 2015, as she helped lead Indiana State Volleyball to a 3-1 (25-19, 16-25, 25-17,l 28-26) victory over Eastern Illinois on Tuesday evening.
Burdette tallied another career-high with a team-high 17 kills on a .242 hitting percentage. Junior opposite hitter Bree Spangler knocked down 13 kills along with 12 digs for her 19th career double-double. Senior middle blocker Cassandra Willis led with a .400 hitting efficiency on nine kills (9-3-15) while sophomore libero Stephanie Bindernagel had a team-high 16 digs.
The Sycamores (3-1) started off the match with a convincing 25-19 win where it hit .294 behind Burdette's seven kills and just four total team errors. Nothing went quite right for Indiana State in the second set, hitting -.071 coupled with the Panthers' .458 clip brought the game to a 1-1 tie at the break.
They cruised through with the set three win thanks in part to a blistering .680 hitting percentage in the set, recording just one attack error. Set four proved to be a nail bitter, as the match was forced in to extra points by the Sycamores. It was as back-and-forth battle final set as ISU tied it up 22-22 on a kill from Spangler. Junior Kynedi Nalls saved ISU at 26-26 and EIU (3-1) made an attack error to push it to set point. Burdette aptly put the game away on a roll for the 28-26 victory.
THOUGHTS FROM COACH DAHL-SKINNER
“I think it was important for our girls to play some really good volleyball tonight but we also played some really sloppy volleyball,” Indiana State head coach Traci Dahl-Skinner said. “It's going to be important for us to gain consistency going forward and that fourth set tonight shows us what we have to offer. I thought Mel (Burdette) did even better than she did on opening weekend and that's all we can ask for. Our grit and determination towards the end of that fourth set was really good tonight. It was a really fun game.”
GAME CHANGER/KEY STAT
Junior middle blocker Melody Burdette had another career night as she brought down 17 kills on a .242 hitting percentage. In just four games, Burdette has amassed 44 total kills (2.58 per set).
SYCAMORE LEADERS
Kills – Melody Burdette (16)
Digs – Stephanie Bindernagel (16)
Assists – Erika Nord (44)
Hitting Percentage – Cassandra Willis (.400, 9-3-15)
Aces – Bree Spangler (2)
Blocks – Carly Wishlow (5)
IMPORTANT NUMBERS
.680 – Indiana State hit a staggering .680 en route to a set three victory
17 – Junior middle blocker Melody Burdette continued her tear through the early portion of the season as she recorded 17 kills on a .242 hitting percentage
19 – Spangler's 19th double double of her career came on a 13 kill, 12 dig performance
44 – Burdette's total of kills through four matches (17 sets) this season. In 2014, Burdette totaled 128 kills in 70 sets played.
UP NEXT
Indiana State travels to Kent, Ohio to take part in the Golden Flashes Classic hosted by Kent State on Friday and Saturday. The Sycamores face host Golden Flashes on Friday and Oakland and Albany on Saturday. All matches will be streamed live on KentStateSports.com.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Volleyball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
