Oct. 27, 2001

Final Stats

Champaign, Ill. - The University of Illinois volleyball team swept passed the Iowa Hawkeyes in three games Saturday night in front of 974 fans at Huff Hall.

The win gives Illinois its sixth consecutive Big Ten win and seventh overall. That streak of six straight conference wins is the longest active streak in the Big Ten.

The Fighting Illini, who won the three games by the scores of 30-19, 30-23 and 30-26, improve to 15-5 overall, 8-4 in the Big Ten, while Iowa falls to 3-16 overall, 1-11 in conference play.

Game one saw Illinois rout the Hawkeyes on the strength of its offense. Illinois hit .526 for the game, led by sophomore middle blocker Lisa Argabright's seven kills. The Illini jumped out to an early 7-3 lead via the play of senior middle blocker Lydia Gard. Gard had three kills during a 4-2 run for Illinois that saw them push their lead to four. Argabright followed Gard by scoring five of Illinois' next seven points to push the Orange and Blue lead to nine at 16-7. Illinois kept its offensive pressure up the rest of the way as they claimed game one 30-19.

Game two saw the Illinois defense take center stage as they held Iowa to just .118 hitting. Up 15-14 midway through the game, Illinois took control with an 8-1 run. The Illini showed their versatility during the stretch, getting kills from Lauren Harks and Argabright and aces from Amber Lindner and Sue Webber, while the defense forced Iowa into three errors.

Once again, Illinois finished off the sweep in game three with the help of its defense. Illinois held the Hawkeyes to just .108 hitting in the third frame. Despite trailing by as many as four points in the game and down 22-19 late, Illinois fought back to get the win. The Illini scored five of the game's next seven points to the the score at 24-24, thanks to a pair of kills by the Champaign, Ill., native Gard. After tying the match, Illinois scored the next four to push its lead to 28-24 before an Argabright kill secured the Illini's longest conference winning streak since 1995 when Illinois won seven straight Big Ten contests.

Lisa Argabright led Illinois after hitting a career-high .750 for the match. Argabright had 15 kills and no errors in 20 swings to go with a pair of blocks. Three other Illini joined Argabright in double figure kills. Shadia Haddad had another double-double this evening, her seventh this season, with 12 kills and 16 digs, while Sue Webber and Lydia Gard had 11 and 10 kills respectively. Setter Betsy Eiserman added 47 assists in victory.

The Illini return to action on Friday, Nov. 2 when they travel to Madison, Wis. to take on the defending Big Ten Champion Wisconsin Badgers. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.