Oct. 19, 2002

Final Stats

Champaign, Ill. - Illinois fell at home tonight to the Ohio State Buckeyes in a heartbreaking five-game match, losing by the score of 24-30, 30-24, 30-27, 16-30, 6-15 in front of 1,365 fans at Huff Hall. With the loss, Illinois moves to 9-8 overall and 3-5 in the Big Ten. Ohio State meanwhile improves to 9-8 on the season and also 3-5 in league play.

The Illini jumped out on the Buckeyes early, gaining a 10-1 lead in game one. But OSU slowly chipped away at the deficit, tying the game at 18-all and then taking its first lead. The Buckeyes pulled ahead 21-18 and the Illini could get no closer than two as the Buckeyes posted a 30-24 victory in game one.

Illinois rebounded nicely, playing its finest game of the match in winning game two. OSU led 24-23, but the Illini went on a 7-0 run to close out the game. Sue Webber had one kill, freshman Rachel VanMeter added two kills, and four Ohio State hitting errors accounted for Illinois' seven points in the decisive run. The Illini hit .364 as a team in game two.

The Illini then took a 2-games-to-1 lead after staging a 30-27 victory in game three. In a back-and-forth affair that featured six ties and three lead changes, it was the Illini again making the critical rally. Trailing 26-25, Illinois scored four unanswered points on a kill by Lisa Argabright, hitting errors by Brie Hagerty and Stacey Gordon and an ace by Jessica Belter. After an OSU point, Argabright closed out game three with a kill.

Illinois was unable to close out the match, as Ohio State controlled game four throughout, hitting .439 as a team with 21 kills and only three errors. The Buckeyes raced out to a 15-5 advantage and Illinois could get no closer than eight points as OSU forced game-five.

The momentum Ohio State picked up in game four carried the Buckeyes in game five. Ohio State scored the first two points of the final game and played with the lead the entire game. With Illinois trailing 8-6, the Buckeyes went on a 7-0 run to close out the match, winning game five 15-6.

"I thought we fought hard and showed great effort in winning games two and three," Illini Head Coach Don Hardin said. "But we didn't carry that same intensity into game four. Then in game five we hit some balls out of bounds early, and you can't do that in a game where it's a race to 15 points."

Leading the way for the Illini was Lisa Argabright, who tallied a team-high 14 kills on .313 hitting. She also added a team-high seven blocks. Melissa Vandrey also finished in double figures with 12 kills. Rachel VanMeter provided a spark off the bench for the Illini, tallying seven kills and two blocks during her playing time both at middle blocker and outside hitter. Sue Webber set a new career high with seven aces and had a team-high 15 digs.

The Buckeyes were led by 24 kills and 21 digs from sophomore Stacey Gordon. Suzie Stiling added 18 kills on .389 hitting and Shelly Draeger tallied 16 kills on .366 hitting.

Ohio State outhit Illinois .262-to-.117 for the match and registered 31 more kills (79-48) than the Illini. Illinois had 11 aces compared to OSU's seven and the Illini outblocked the Buckeyes 13-to-11.5.

Illinois is on the road next weekend, traveling to the state of Michigan. The Illini will face Michigan on Oct. 25 and Michigan State on Oct. 26.