Oct. 3, 2004

Final Stats

Madison, Wis. - Behind 18 kills from Shelia Shaw, Wisconsin defeated No. 19 Illinois in four games, 30-28, 25-30, 30-24, 30-22 Sunday afternoon in Madison. Illinois evens its Big Ten record at 2-2 while falling to 10-3 overall. Wisconsin improves to 2-2, 8-4 overall.

Senior outside hitter Jessica Belter had a career-high 19 kills while junior outside hitter Rachel VanMeter also had 19 kills to lead Illinois statistically. Sophomore middle blocker Meghan Macdonald, coming off a .917 attack performance on Friday vs. Northwestern, hit .409 vs. Wisconsin and finished with 13 kills. Belter was especially effective, hitting from both the outside and the middle.

Rasa Virsilaite led Illinois defensively with 15 digs followed by Lauren Harks (13) and Stephanie Obermeier (10). Illinois attackers were subject to 16.5 blocks from the Badgers on the night compared to just 8.5 blocks from Illinois. Meg Griffin led the Illini with five block assists.

"Today was just an example of poor execution in a Big Ten road match," said Illinois Head Coach Don Hardin. "While that's not okay, that is to be expected as we continue to rotate new players into the line-up. That will get better as the season continues."

Illinois tried to dig themselves out of big holes in games one and three and nearly pulled it off twice. The Illini used the momentum at the end of game one to play a solid game two in tying the match heading into the intermission.

Wisconsin exploded for a 6-0 lead in game one and led 26-19 before the Illini made a late charge behind the arm of VanMeter, who scored five of the next Illinois points on kills to make it 26-25. Griffin added an ace, but the teams traded sideouts the rest of the game. The Illini allowed the Badgers to hit .351 in the opening game behind four kills from Sheila Shaw. The Badgers committed five service errors to allow Illinois back in the game.

VanMeter and Belter were the keys to Illinois' game-two victory. VanMeter had seven kills and hit .455, while Belter added six kills. With the game tied at 25-25, Illinois scored the final five points. The key point in the string was a point-saving over from Belter, then a Macdonald solo block when Wisconsin set middle, which gave Illinois a 27-25 advantage. Belter closed out the match with a kill on the outside off a back set from Obermeier (59 assists).

Wisconsin built a 19-5 lead in game three, but had to hold on for a 30-24 win. Illinois used the swing of Macdonald, who had five kills in the game to get as close as 24-21 following a 17-5 run, but the Badgers were able to close out the game. Wisconsin closed out the match with relative ease, racing to a 16-10 lead en route to taking game four 30-22.

Illinois hosts Michigan and Michigan State on Oct. 8 and 9, respectively, at Huff Hall. First serve is 7 p.m. both nights.