Oct. 22, 2004

Final Stats

Champaign, Ill. - No. 5 Penn State rebounded from Wednesday's home loss to No. 7 Ohio State with a convincing 30-18, 30-24, 30-32, 30-15 victory over No. 24 Illinois before a crowd of 1,585 at Huff Hall. The Nittany Lions remain perfect on the road and improve to 17-2 overall, 8-2 in the Big Ten. Illinois falls to 13-5 overall, 5-4 in the Big Ten.

For the second straight match Illinois had double digits in blocks with 10 led by six from freshman middle blocker Jen Hynds and five from junior outside hitter Rasa Virsilaite. The Lions had the block working as well with 11.5 team blocks paced by nine from Melissa Walbridge.

Offensively, the Illini got a strong match from Virsilaite who tallied a team-leading 19 kills followed by sophomore middle blocker Meghan Macdonald's 12 kills. Virsilaite posted her sixth double-double of the season with 11 digs

Senior libero Lauren Harks had a stellar match with a team-leading and career high 27 digs, one of four Illinois players in double digits. Behind Virsilaite's 11 digs were freshman Stephanie Obermeier's and Kathleen Bazzetta's 10 digs apiece. Penn State's defense was one of the big differences in the match. The Lions had 84 digs paced by libero Kaleena Walter's 25.

Penn State out-hit Illinois .309 to .164. The Illini hit .281 in game three en route to a 32-30 victory. Penn State meanwhile hit above .300 in three of the four games, including .355 in game four. The Lions are just the third team to hit .250 or better against Illinois this year.

Illinois entered the match having won seven straight matches against ranked opponents at home, but it was Penn State who set the tone early on. With game one tied at 8-8, the Lions out-scored the Illini 22-10 the rest of the way to take game one, including six straight off the serve of Kate Price to turn a 17-13 PSU lead into a commanding 22-13 advantage.

The Illini went to the middle effectively at the beginning of game two with kills from Jen Hynds and Meghan Macdonald to tie the score at five. This time Penn State rattled off five straight points to make it 10-5. The Illini got as close as 21-20, but the Lions out-scored the Illini 5-1 to end the game.

Illinois played some pretty good volleyball in winning game three. Virsilaite had three kills and a block assist as the Illini bolted to a 6-1 lead. The match was back and forth and tied at 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 before Penn State took a 26-25 lead. The Illini fought off a potential Penn State match point with a thundering kill from Jessica Belter (9 kills) and Bazzetta served the final two points as the Illini fought back in the match.

Penn State was in firm control of game four however, darting to a 10-5 lead. Tabitha Eschleman served eight straight points to turn a 17-10 PSU lead into a 24-10 advantage. The Illini hit -.024 with 12 attack errors in the fourth game.

"We have four more chances against Top Ten teams this year and I think it's important to knock one of the them off to prove we have come full circle since the injuries," said Illinois Head Coach Don Hardin "We have shown we can play well against those teams, but not consistently. I think what's most disappointing tonight was this was the first time we have come out this flat in front of our home fans in awhile."

Illinois will get another shot at a Top Ten opponent Saturday night at Huff Hall when Ohio State and the nation's kills leader Stacey Gordon bring its perfect 19-0 record into town.

"We have a shot to hand another top team its first loss," Hardin. "We are very capable of doing that, but we have to be more consistent in order to accomplish it."