Nov. 5, 1999

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The Illinois volleyball team did not break out of its mini-slump as hoped, losing to the Ohio State Buckeyes Friday night in straight games, 8-15, 13-15, 9-15, in front of 2,105 fans at Huff Hall. This is third straight loss for the Illini, and moves the team to 12-7 overall and 8-5 in Big Ten play.

"Ohio State did a great job of defending us tonight," head coach Don Hardin said. "We stumbled on serve-receive in the first game and dug a hole from there. But I'm proud of the way this team is fighting, we're starting to get our rhythm back."

After dropping the first game, the Illini trailed 9-2 at one point in game two before staging a spirited comeback. The Orange and Blue scored seven unanswered points to tie it up at 9-9, and later knotted the game at eleven all and thirteen all, before OSU scored the last two points of the game.

Illinois came out of the locker room focused for game three, but could not slow down the offensive attack of OSU outside hitter Jen Flynn. Flynn had 16 kills on the night, and hit .355 for the match.

Only one Illini, junior middle blocker Betsy Spicer, recorded double figures in kills (10) on the evening. Spicer hit .316 and sophomore Lydia Gard recorded nine kills with just two errors in 26 attempts, good for an attack percentage of .269. However, no other member on the team was above .100 as the Illini were out-hit .214 to .132 on the evening by the Buckeyes.

Illinois did get a major lift from seldom used defensive specialist Amber Lindner who played solid back row defense and finished the evening with six digs. "We've been looking for that kind of defensive spark and Amber provided it," Hardin said. "She really proved herself tonight."

Next up for the Illini is a showdown with the nation's number one team, Penn State, tomorrow night. The match begins at 7 pm at Huff.