#16 Illinois hosts State Farm Illini Classic this weekend
September 8, 2004 | Volleyball
Sept. 8, 2004
Champaign, Ill. -
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Sept. 10-11 State Farm Illini Classic
Huff Hall, Champaign, Ill.
Illinois update: Illinois is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2001, when the Illini won the George Mason Patriot Inviational. Illinois has lost just one game in sweeping three matches last week. Illinois won the Hurricane Frances Classic in Oxford, Ohio, over the weekend, defeating TCU, 3-1, and the host Miami, 3-0. Rachel VanMeter was named the MVP of the tournament after amassing 43 kills in the two victories.
Illinois moved up to #16 in the latest USA Today/CSTV Coaches Poll
State Farm Illini Classic History: Illinois has won 14 of the previous 20 Illini Classic's after sweeping through DePaul and Wake Forest last season. The Illini Classic has often featured some of the top teams in the country, including Florida, Nebraska, BYU, Stanford and Georgia.
In 1986, No. 4 San Jose State ended a 15-match home winning streak for the Illini, winning 3-1. In 1987, No. 4 Brigham Young defeated No. 6 Illinois, 3-1, in the title match featuring two of the nation's top returning teams.
The Fighting Illini captured the 1988 and 1989 Classic titles, defeating Nebraska and Pittsburgh. In 1990, No. 6 Stanford pulled off a stunning comeback to defeat the Illini in the title match. In 1991, Illinois scored the last six points in the decisive fifth game, stunning No. 19 Georgia to win the championship.
In 1992, the Classic featured the "Big Eight-Big Ten Challenge" pitting No. 12 Illinois and No. 14 Ohio State against No. 5 Nebraska and No. 16 Colorado.
The Headliner: Top ranked USC comes to Huff Hall with a 51-match winning streak. The Women of Troy have lost just one match the past two seasons in winning back-to-back national championships. USC is coming off victories over Georgia (3-1) and Pepperdine (3-1) over the weekend. USC began the season by claiming the NACWAA Tournament at Fort Collins, Colo. USC swept No. 12 Georgia before getting a scare from No. 5 Minnesota. USC edged the Gophers, 25-30, 32-30, 26-30, 30-28, 15-12 in a thrilling match.
If the Women of Troy can duplicate their title, they would become the first team to ever to win three in a row. Two-Time NCAA Tournament MVP Keao Burdine paces USC with 47 kills, while Bibiana Candelas is hitting a team-best .471. Middle blocker Emily Adams also started on last year's team.
More on American: American is 2-1 and coming off a second-place finish at the Manhattan Invitational. The Eagles fell to Michigan in the championship match. American swept through the Patriot League last season to reach the NCAA Tournament before falling to Maryland in the first round. The Eagles return six starters off the club led by Natacha Cornaz, a senior from Switzerland, who had 17 kills vs. the Wolverines.
More on Miami: Illinois is familiar with the Redhawks having captured the championship of the tournament held on the Oxford campus. Miami began the tournament with a victory over TCU. Miami returns all but two starters from an 11-22 team. Angie Zent and Lauren Slusser pace Miami with 25 and 24 kills, respectively.
Previous Champions
1984 Missouri
1985 ILLINOIS
1986 San Jose St.
1987 BYU
1988 ILLINOIS
1989 ILLINOIS
1990 Stanford
1991 ILLINOIS
1992 ILLINOIS
1993 ILLINOIS
1994 Stanford
1995 ILLINOIS
1996 ILLINOIS
1997 ILLINOIS
1998 ILLINOIS
1999 ILLINOIS
2000 ILLINOIS
2001 Florida
2002 ILLINOIS
2003 ILLINOIS
A LOOK BACK
Illinois def. Illinois St., 30-21, 30-19, 30-20: Rachel VanMeter put forth a dominating hitting performance, hitting .607 and producing 20 kills. Illinois' defense allowed Illinois State to hit just .188 for the match, including just .091 in the opening game. Jessica Belter was second on the night with 10 kills, while Macdonald hit .500 with seven kills in 12 swings. Beth Vrdsky and Erin Virtue led the club with five digs apiece, while Virtue tallied 44 assists.Illinois def. TCU, 30-26, 27-30, 30-21, 30-20: Rachel VanMeter continued her stellar play with a career-high 28 kills on 59 swings for a .309 percentage. Just alone in game four, VanMeter registered 10 kills on 16 swings.Rasa Virsilaite also enjoyed a career day with 15 kills on 37 attempts for a .297 average. Meghan Macdonald earned the highest hitting percentage of the day for the Illini with 11 kills on 18 swings for a .556 average. Middle Jen Hynds also chalked up 11 kills, while Jessica Belter had 13 kills, hitting .310. Erin Virtue had a match-high 64 assists.
Illinois def. Miami (OH), 30-26, 30-18, 30-23: Illinois racked up 15 blocks with Meghan Macdonald adding five of her own. Macdonald also tallied four of the Illini's nine aces. The Illini outdug the RedHawks 34-30 led by Lauren Harks (12 digs). VanMeter led the Illini with 15 kills on 36 swings (.306). Virsilaite led the Illini with an .375 percentage by hitting 11 kills on 16 swings. Erin Virture dished out 40 assists and two service aces.
(VAN) METER OFF THE CHARTS IN FIRST WEEK
Rachel VanMeter has been the dominating force early on for Illinois. Van Meter had the roaring crowd at Huff Hall on their feet with a an impressive 20 kill, .607 hitting performance in a three-game sweep of Illinois State in the season opener. She followed that up with a career-high 20 kills against TCU in which she had 10 kills in 16 swings (.625) in the fourth and decisive game. VanMeter showed her spark at times last year against stiff competition, exploding for 23 kills in a four-game upset of #11 Penn State, and the game winning kills vs. eventual Final Four participant Minnesota.THREE NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT in MIAMI
Junior Rachel VanMeter was named MVP of the Hurricane Frances Classic in Oxford, Ohio. Senior Lauren Harks and junior Rasa Virsilaite also were named All-Tournament. VanMeter compiled 43 kills, 4.5 blocks in the two tournament matches, and hit over .300 in both matches. The junior enjoyed a career performance in the first match of the day, registering 28 kills. Harks tallied 31 digs in the two matches, while Virsilaite totaled 26 kills, including a career-high 15 in the first match against TCU.NUMBER ONE IN HUFF
This will mark the fourth time that the number one team has visited Huff Hall. The Illini have taken the top team to five games in two of the previous three meetings. In 1990 Nebraska played Illinois in the Illini Invitational ranked number one. The unranked Illini took the first two games from the Huskers, 15-6, 15-13 before falling in the final three games, 15-9, 15-8, 15-8. In 1998, top-ranked Penn State came in to Huff. This time the Nittany Lions took the first two games, 15-6, 15-7. Illinois took the next two, 17-15, 15-8 before Penn State won game five 15-12. #1 Penn State downed the Illini, in three games in 1999. Illinois also faced number one in 1988 and 1990. #2 Illinois lost to #1 Hawaii 15-11, 15-9, 15-8 in the 1988 Wahine Classic and to #1 UCLA at the Community Banker's Classic in Los Angeles, 15-6, 15-12, 15-3 in 1990.EXCELLENCE IS A VIRTUE
Erin Virtue joins a long line of successful setters at Illinois. Virtue was named to every all-tournament team in 2003, earned All-Big Ten honors, All-Region accolades and was an Honorable Mention All-American. Virtue ranked second in the Big Ten in assists per game last year by the narrowest of margins. Wisconsin's Morgan Shields led the league at 13.57 with Virtue second at 13.56.GETTING IT DONE IN THE CLASSROOM
The Illini volleyball team had a combined 3.39 GPA during the Spring semester, marking the 13th straight semester that the team GPA has been 3.0 or higher.MAKING A LIST
Here is a list of the number of times teams have finished ranked in the Final poll of the season:Nebraska 22
Stanford 22
Hawai'i 21
Pacific 20
UCLA 20
USC 20
BYU 19
Penn State 19
UCSB 19
Texas 18
Long Beach St. 16
Arizona 15
Ohio St. 13
Pepperdine 13
Florida 12
Illinois 11
Colorado St. 10
Texas A&M 10
Arizona St. 9
Wisconsin 9
