Nov. 21, 2005

The Big Ten has honored Illinois senior outside hitter Rachel VanMeter (Lexington, Ky./Dorman, SC High School) and junior libero Beth Vrdsky (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South H.S.) for their performances last week. VanMeter was named Big Ten Player of the Week for the second time this year while Vrdsky earned Illinois first-ever Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. Both players were instrumental in helping the Illini defeat No. 18 Purdue and Indiana at Huff Hall.

VanMeter set a new Illinois single-match record with 99 attacks in a thrilling 28-30, 30-19, 30-24, 28-30, 15-12 upset against No. 18 Purdue. The 99 attempts rank fifth all-time in Big Ten history as well. Her 39 kills tied her season-high set on Aug. 27 versus Illinois State, a mark that ranks her third all-time in school history. VanMeter is the one of only two players to have at least 35 kills in two different matches in a season in Illinois history. She now has 1,616 career kills, just 31 away from fourth on the Illinois all-time list. Her 626 kills in 2005 are the second best of any season in school history. She also posted 26 kills in her final game at Huff Hall against Indiana. On the weekend, she tallied an average of 8.1 kills and 2.6 digs per game. VanMeter entered last week ranked fourth in the nation in kills per game and leads the conference in that department.

Vrdsky had 31 digs vs. Purdue, then 15 in a straight games victory over Indiana (30-27, 30-23, 30-24). She helped the Fighting Illini hold the Boilermakers to a .182 hitting percentage and Indiana to just .153. She has 470 digs for the season and ranks eighth in the Big Ten at 4.27 digs per game. Her 36 digs vs. Eastern Illinois on Sept. 16 are the fifth most in the Big Ten this year.

"Rachel and Beth started the year playing great volleyball; it's good to see them ending it on such a high note as well" said Illinois Head Coach Don Hardin. "Beth's play in the back row was especially noteworthy. When you see someone throwing their body around to get digs, you can't help but feel inspired. There has been no mystery that Rachel is going to get the vast majority of our swings. To still see her putting up big numbers says a lot about her effort and ability."

Illinois closes the regular season Friday and Saturday night at Minnesota and Iowa, respectively.