McLean County Times

After victories over Bradley and Murray State, the Illinois State volleyball team is set to host Evansville and Indiana State in its final home matches of the 2025 season. The Redbirds will recognize four graduating seniors: Arianna Rossi, Colleen Hege, Hannah Reichensperger, and Aida Shadewald.

The weekend schedule includes a match against Evansville on November 7 at 6 p.m., followed by a contest with Indiana State on November 8 at 5 p.m.

Illinois State has achieved back-to-back matches hitting above .300, marking the 18th time since 1997 that the team has reached this milestone for at least two consecutive games. The program's longest streak occurred in 2003 with four straight matches over .300.

Sophomore Khenedi Guest ranks within the top-25 in three Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) categories: attack percentage (ninth), kills per set (21st), and blocks per set (fifth). She is one of nine MVC players ranked inside the top-30 in all three areas and holds the third-best aggregate ranking among those athletes.

In a recent win over Bradley, Illinois State limited their opponent to just 44 points across three sets. This ties for the eighth-fewest points allowed by ISU in the past eight seasons.

Freshman Ella Craggs was named MVC Freshman of the Week after posting consecutive matches with more than 40 assists against UIC and Valparaiso. She became the first ISU freshman since Stef Jankiewicz in 2017 to achieve this feat in back-to-back conference contests. Nationally, she had the fourth-most total assists among freshmen during that week and led all MVC players regardless of class.

Fifth-year libero Arianna Rossi recorded a match-high 39 digs against Bradley on September 27, tying for the fifth-highest single-match total nationally this season.

Middle blocker Khenedi Guest stands second in total blocks and third in blocks per set through ISU’s first 25 matches of the year within conference play.

This season, Illinois State has participated in 15 extended sets requiring more than 25 points to decide a winner. The team's second-set victory over Butler ended at 34-32, representing the second-highest scoring set in school history and tying for the 14th-highest nationally this year. Over their first 23 matches, ISU played in these extended sets more often than most programs—tied for seventh-most in a single season.

The opening weekend match against Illinois drew an attendance of 2,874 fans at CEFCU Arena, ranking among the ten largest home crowds for Redbird volleyball since 2003.

Aida Shadewald received her second career MVC Player of the Week award following performances that included averaging over three kills per set while also contributing significantly to digs and aces. She led Illinois State offensively during two out of three opening weekend matches.

By sweeping their opening weekend series, Illinois State secured nine consecutive set wins; after taking two more sets from Loyola next match, they extended this streak to eleven—tying for second-longest season-opening run in program history.

Nine different Redbird players have registered double-digit kills in a match this year—the highest number since 2003.

Several athletes earned all-tournament honors throughout non-conference play: Aida Shadewald was named Most Valuable Player at Western Michigan Tournament alongside teammates Arianna Rossi and Ruth Ziegler; Logan Grevengoed was recognized at Kwik Star Klassic; Caitlyn Little received honors at Dayton Flyer Invitational. In total, five players were selected for all-tournament teams this season.

Illinois State returned eight starters from last year while adding what is considered its strongest recruiting class ever. As a result, coaches picked them to finish third in the preseason MVC poll. Both Aida Shadewald and Khenedi Guest were chosen as preseason All-MVC selections.

Historically against their upcoming opponents, Illinois State holds a dominant record: they are 54-8 versus Evansville and lead Indiana State with a record of 73-10.