Nov. 2, 2002

Final Stats

Champaign, Ill. - Thanks to a solid all-around effort, the Illinois volleyball team was able to get back on the winning track tonight, ending its five-match losing skid by sweeping the Iowa Hawkeyes by the score of 30-21, 30-24, 31-29 in front of 1,026 fans at Huff Hall. With the win Illinois improves to 10-11 on the season and 4-8 in the Big Ten. Iowa meanwhile, falls to 8-14 overall and 2-10 in conference play.

Playing without two of its regular starters in Lisa Argabright (mono) and Melissa Vandrey (sore knee), the Illini rallied together and had some key players step up, most notably outside hitters Jessica Belter and Rasa Virsilaite. Playing in just the fourth match of her career, the freshman Virsilaite answered with a sensational performance. She tallied a season-high 12 kills while adding three blocks. The sophomore Belter meanwhile tallied 11 kills on .320 hitting.

"I wasn't nervous, I knew that with Melissa (Vandrey) out I had to step in there and perform," Virsilaite said following the match. "It felt good to be in there contributing, and of course it feels great to get a victory."

Illinois' top performance belonged to senior right-side hitter Sue Webber, who tallied a match-high 15 kills on match-high .444 hitting (15 K-3E-27TA). Senior setter Betsy Eiserman led Illinois' offense well, distributing the ball evenly among her attackers and keeping Iowa's middle blockers guessing throughout the evening. Eiserman finished with 43 assists.

Illinois hit .262 for the match and out-hit the Hawkeyes by a commanding .262-to-.145 margin. The Illini had a 53-39 advantage in kills and out-dug the Hawkeyes 54-42. Sophomore libero Lauren Harks led Illinois with a match-high 15 digs. Junior middle blocker Shelly O'Bryan just missed double figures with nine kills and had a match-high six blocks.

Illinois now must go on the road for four straight matches. First up is a match at Purdue on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. Central Time.