Sept. 20, 2002
Final Stats
Provo, Utah -
The Fighting Illini volleyball team recorded a 3-0 sweep over Brigham Young tonight, defeating the Cougars in straight games by the score of 32-30, 30-27, 30-26. With the win, the Illini improve to 6-2 on the season while BYU falls to 5-8.
The Illini got off to a sluggish start, trailing by as many as seven points (3-10) in game one. But as Illinois began to cut down on its hitting errors, they cut away at the deficit and eventually pulled even to a 21-21 tie. The two teams went back and forth trading points until the very end. Trailing 29-30, the Illini tied it with a kill by Melissa Vandrey, went ahead for the first time at 31-30 after an ace by Shelly O'Bryan, and finally won the game with a kill by Lisa Argabright.
In game two the Illini showed more poise and went on the attack early, taking an 18-9 lead. This time around it was BYU staging the comeback, pulling to within one point on three separate occasions, the last time at 24-23. But from there it was the Lisa Argabright show, as the junior middle blocker accounted for four of Illinois' final six points, with three kills and one solo block.
The Illini led the entire way in game three and used the hot hitting of Vandrey and O'Bryan to record the sweep.
Webber and Argabright tied for match-high honors in kills, each tallying 12 on the evening. Webber had a double-double, adding 12 digs, while Lauren Harks also had 12 digs from the libero position. Illinois' player of the match, however, was junior Shelly O'Bryan. O'Bryan tied her career high with eight kills, and hit .429 for the match to lead the Illini. She also tallied two aces, two blocks and three digs.
"Shelly really did an outstanding job tonight," Head Coach Don Hardin said. "In games two and three when we really needed a spark, she gave it to us. She hit well and also did a nice job serving. I thought Lauren Harks also gave a great effort tonight defensively. We did a nice job fighting through a slow start and overcoming a lot of errors to get this win."
Next up for the Illini is a trip to Salt Lake City to face 10th-ranked Utah tomorrow night at 8 p.m. CT.
