Oct. 2, 2002

Final Stats

Champaign, Ill. - The Illinois volleyball team squared off against its travel partner Purdue tonight in a rare midweek match in Champaign, Ill. After spotting the Boilermakers a one-game lead, the Illini rallied off three straight wins in games 2-through-4 to defeat Purdue in four games by the score of 27-30, 30-26, 30-27, 30-25 in front of 855 fans at Huff Hall. With the win, the Illini improve to 8-4 on the season and 2-1 in the Big Ten, while the Boilermakers fall to 9-6 overall and 0-3 in league play.

Illinois used a balanced attack throughout the match, as senior setter Betsy Eiserman tallied 54 assists and got all her hitters involved in the offense. The Illini had a season-high five players finish in double figures in kills, led by a season-high 19 kills from junior middle blocker Lisa Argabright. Argabright hit .417 for the match (19-4-36), while fellow middle Shelly O'Bryan hit a match-high .421, with 10 kills and just two errors in 19 swings. One match after combining for 29 kills in the win over Wisconsin, Illinois' duo of middle blockers again combined for 29 kills tonight in the win over the Boilers. Argabright and O'Bryan also combined for 12 blocks (the seven by Argabright ties her season high), while O'Bryan registered a new career-high with four service aces.

Senior opposite Sue Webber notched her fourth double-double of the season, tallying 12 kills and 10 digs, while sophomore outside hitter Jessica Belter added 12 kills and four blocks. Junior outside hitter Melissa Vandrey rounded out the Illini players in double figures, finishing with 11 kills.

While the libero position is not allowed to record any glowing offensive statistics, perhaps Illinois' player of the match was sophomore Lauren Harks. Harks was seemingly everywhere on the court, making a key defensive play when it needed to be made. She finished with a career-high 22 digs, surpassing her previous career best of 21 digs set against Penn State and Purdue last season.

Junior Joanna Lowry led the Boilermakers with a match-high 25 kills on .415 hitting, while freshman Marie Franke added 17 kills. Illinois outblocked Purdue 13-to-7 for the match and tallied twice as many service aces as the Boilers (8-to-4), while Purdue racked up over twice as many service errors as the Illini (15-to-6).

Illinois, winners of six of its last eight matches, returns to the court Friday night to face the 9th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. Match time is set for 7 p.m. at Huff Hall.