Sept. 24, 1999

EVANSTON, Ill. - The 25th ranked University of Illinois volleyball team took five games to do it but finally defeated Northwestern, 6-15, 15-11, 9-15, 15-9, 15-12 this evening in Welsh-Ryan Arena on the campus of Northwestern University. With the win Illinois improves to 6-2 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten Conference while Northwestern falls to 2-9 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

"Wins like these can really fordify team chemistry,? said Illinois Head Coach Don Hardin after his team pulled out the nail-biter. ?Close matches can serve you well in the end in that regard.?

Melissa Beitz was the star of the show for the Illini. The senior setter from Strasburg, Ill., kept Illinois in the match early while she chased down errant passes and used the setter dump to collect seven kills in eight attempts. She also did a fine job of getting the ball to her teammates with a hot hand, who at one point or another included Shadia Haddad (11 kills), Tracey Marshall (12 kills) and Betsy Spicer (12 kills).

?There is no question Melissa came into one of the most hostile environments you can play in tonight and led this team to a victory,? Hardin continued. ?Without Melissa?s emotional leadership tonight we would have lost. She went to her team and said ?follow me? and they did.?

Illinois was able to defeat the Wildcats despite NU putting up stronger numbers across the board. Northwestern outhit Illinois, .219-.215, collected eight service aces to two for Illinois and committed only two receiving errors to Illinois? eight. Carmen Burbach paced the Wildcats with 17 kills in 48 swings.

?I?ve got to take my hat off to NU tonight,? Hardin said. ?They played a great match, awesome volleyball.?

Illinois is next in action next weekend as the team travels to No. 2 Penn State Friday night and Ohio State Sunday afternoon.