Sept. 28, 2001
Final Stats
Champaign, Ill. -
The University of Illinois volleyball team swept its way to its first Big Ten victory as the Illini defeated Northwestern 3-0, Friday evening in front of 1,126 fans at Huff Hall.
The Fighting Illini improved to 7-3 overall, 1-2 in the Big Ten, while
Northwestern suffered its first conference loss of the season and falls to
5-4 overall, 2-1 in conference play.
Illinois put together a pair of complete games to open the match making
short work of the Wildcats by the scores of 30-24 and 30-19. The Illini
defense was stellar on the evening, holding the Wildcats to hitting
percentages of .083 and .063 in games one and two respectively. While the
defense shined, the offense was equally impressive as Illinois hit .300 and
.355 in games one and two to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission.
While games one and two showed Illinois? ability to close out its
opponent, game three showed its ability to rally from adversity. Down by as
many as three points in the game and trailing 18-20 after a Don Hardin
timeout, the Illini rallied for 12-unanswered points to get the win.
Freshman outside hitter Lauren Harks served 11 of those points as Illinois
upped Northwestern?s winless streak in Champaign, Ill., to 17 consecutive
games.
Lisa Argabright paced Illinois with 13 kills on the night. The 6-foot-5
middle blocker from Louisville, Ky., hit a career-high .524 in the match,
while adding seven blocks. Senior Shadia Haddad also recorded double-figures
in kills. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native had 10 kills to go with eight digs
and five blocks.
The Illini look for Big Ten win No. 2 on Saturday when they take on
seventh-ranked Wisconsin at 7 p.m. in Huff Hall.
