Sept. 24, 2003
Final Stats
Evanston, Ill. -
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The Fighting Illini volleyball team was successful in tonight's Big Ten opener, winning at Northwestern in four games by the score of 16-30, 30-21, 30-15, 30-27. With the victory, the Illini are now 10-1 on the season and 1-0 in Big Ten play. Northwestern, meanwhile, falls to 9-4 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
After a sluggish start, the Illini came on strong and won three straight games against the Wildcats for the 3-1 victory. Illinois, who leads the Big Ten in opponent hitting percentage, held Northwestern to an attack percentage of just .116 for the match, compared to the Illini's .264 hitting. The Wildcats amassed 42 errors on the night and Illinois' net defense doubled up Northwestern in blocking, outblocking the Wildcats 12-to-6.
Game three was when Illinois seized control for good, cruising to a 30-15 win. In that game alone, the Illini had six blocks as Northwestern committed more errors (16) than points. The Illini offense also sizzled in the third game, hitting .476 with 11 kills and only one attack error.
Sophomore Rachel VanMeter led the Illini in kills with 14 while Lisa Argabright also finished in double figures with 12 kills. The Illini had three players hit over .400 in the match led by Shelly O'Bryan's .455 hitting. Jessica Belter hit .417 and Argabright added .409 hitting as Erin Virtue directed the Illini offense with 43 assists.
Argabright led the Illini in blocks with five, while Melissa Vandrey, O'Bryan, VanMeter and Virtue all added three blocks.
"There was a lot of tension in the air tonight with it being the Big Ten opener and an important match, and you could see that take its toll on both teams at different points during the match," Head Coach Don Hardin said. "After a rough start, we really stepped up our play in games two, three and four and are thrilled to come out of here with a win."
Despite playing on the road, there was plenty of Orange and Blue in the stands of Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan arena. That's because nearly 60 members of Illinois' student group "Illini Pride" filled a charter bus and traveled from Champaign to Evanston to help cheer on the team.
"It almost felt like a home match for us, thanks to all of the Illinois students that traveled up here to support us," Hardin said. "It meant a lot to our players to have them behind us, and it definitely was an added incentive for us and helped us elevate our play."
Illinois extended its winning streak to nine straight matches with tonight's win, marking the longest winning streak in Coach Don Hardin's eight-year UI tenure. The last time Illinois won nine in a row was when the Illini opened the 1995 season with nine straight victories.
Illinois is next in action Saturday, Sept. 27 when it travels to Madison, Wis. to take on the 23rd-ranked Wisconsin Badgers.
