Oct. 3, 2003
Final Stats
Iowa City, Iowa -
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The Fighting Illini won tonight's Big Ten matchup with Iowa in three games by the score of 30-21, 30-25, 30-18. With the win, the Illini improve to 11-2 and 2-1 in Big Ten. Iowa, meanwhile, falls to 5-8 overall and 0-3 in the conference.
After a rough start, trailing at one point 9-2 in the first game, the Illini recovered brilliantly going on to win the first game with little trouble. From that point the Illini rolled, taking the next two games with the Orange and Blue pounding out a .312 hitting percentage compared to the .098 for the Hawkeyes. The Illini entered the match leading the Big Ten with a .151 opponent hitting percentage.
Senior Lisa Argabright once again led the charge with 17 kills and a .483 hitting percentage. Junior Jessica Belter enjoyed a solid game with 10 kills on 21 swings and Sophomore Rachel VanMeter had 9 kills and had a .412 hitting percentage, joining Argabright to be the only two to hit better than .400 for the Illini.
The Illini dominated the Hawkeyes in all aspects of the game. Illinois out blocked Iowa 10-to-7 and also held an advantage in digs 50-to-43.
"The defense and blocking have been there this season for us and tonight we continued that play along with excellent execution on offense," Head Coach Don Hardin said. "I thought we held our composure in game 1 and late in game 2 where we faced some crucial situations. We really did a great job of responding in critical times throughout the match."
Illinois is next in tomorrow, Oct. 4 when it travels to Minneapolis, Minn. to take on the Minnesota Gophers.
