Nov. 5, 2005
Evanston, Ill. -
Illinois hit .248 and got 22 kills from senior outside hitter Rachel VanMeter, but it was not enough to overcome Northwestern, who downed the Illini, 30-21, 25-30, 30-26, 30-25 in Evanston. The teams came into the match in five-way tie for six in the conference. Northwestern improves to 5-9 in the Big Ten and 14-10 overall while Illinois falls to 13-12 overall, 4-10 in the league.
Illinois allowed Northwestern to hit .324 for the match, including .389 in the first game and .444 in the fourth game. Lindsay Anderson had 23 kills and a .356 hitting percentage, pacing four Northwestern players in double digits in kills.
Beth Vrdsky led Illinois in digs with 19. Lizzie Bazzetta had 35 assists and 10 digs. Northwestern out-blocked Illinois 12-9. Vicki Brown and Kayani Turner led Illinois with four block assists. Meghan Macdonald and Brown had 11 and 10 kills, respectively.
Illinois had early leads in all four games, but three times fell victim to mid-game runs by Northwestern. The Illini took a brief 7-6 lead, but the Wildcats out-scored Illinois 12-6 to take an 18-13 lead and continued the run to claim the game 30-21.
Illinois rode the arm of VanMeter to win game two. VanMeter had nine kills and hit .438. The Illini hit .290 as a team and took its turn in making a late-game rally. Trailing 20-18, Illinois out-scored Northwestern 12-5 to win the game. Brown and RachelHenderson combined on the block to tie the score at 20 and Brown and VanMeter had crucial kills in the stretch.
In game three, Vicki Brown had three kills as Illinois took an 11-9 lead, but the Wildcats went on a 7-2 run to go in front 16-13. Brown responded with a kill from the back row as Illinois pulled to within 17-16. The Wildcats used the block to seemingly take control of the game at 26-21. The Illini responded with four straight points, the final coming when Meghan Macdonald won a joust at the net. Northwestern out-scored Illinois 4-1 to win the game. The Wildcats hit over .300 for the second game at .306 and got six kills from Anderson. Northwestern had five blocks in the third game. Brown had five kills and hit .375 for the Illini as Illinois hit .290.
Both teams hit for a high percentage in game four. Up until the game was tied at 12-12, Illinois was hitting .643 and Northwestern .750. Northwestern went ahead 20-16, but Illinois battled back to pull with in 25-23 on a Bazzetta ace. The Wildcats, however, used a tough serve to close out the match.
Illinois begins a four-game home stand on Nov. 11 against Ohio State.
