Nov. 17, 2006

Box Score

Champaign, Ill. - Seniors Meghan Macdonald and Stephanie Obermeier played Friday's match under unusual circumstances. With starting setter Lizzie Bazzetta suffering a season-ending broken hand in practice Thursday, the setting duties were turned over to Obermeier. Maconald,meanwhile, did not start for one of the few times this season with sophomore Rachel Henderson taking her place in the line-up.

But with Illinois struggling in game one of the match with Indiana, Macdonald came into to provide a spark. What resulted was a new Illinois single-match record for attack percentage. Macdonald hit a perfect 1.000 with 12 kills in 12 attacks. That breaks a 17-year old record of .941 (16-0-17) set by Nancy Brookhart. Illinois (15-12, 6-11) rallied for a 20-30, 30-13, 30-17, 30-23 victory over the Hoosiers. Macdonald added a career-high five aces to go along with three block assists.

Illinois hit just .029 in the first game as Indiana took leads of 15-11 and 26-15 before closing out game one . Macdonald had two of her assists to end the first game then helped Illinois carry that momentum into game two.

"I could see that we were getting off a slow start and I knew we just needed that spark of energy," Macdonald said. "Everything just fell into place. It was definitely a team effort."

Two years ago, Obermeier served as the full-time setter after Pre-season All-Amercian Erin Virtue tore her ACL early in the 2004 season. Saturday it was like old times with Obermeier and Macdonald, who get just one more match with each other at Huff tomorrow night against No. 23 Purdue. Obermeier found Maconald on the back-slide, on quick sets to the middle, and everything in between. For the night Obermeier had 53 assists and a career-best 17 digs with the team hitting .431 off her sets and .238 overall for the match.

"Stephanie is just a hard worker that if you give her any task, she'll do her best at it," Macdonald said.

"Stephanie is one of my favorite people to have coached in my career," said Illinois Head Coach Don Hardin. "She is so positive and has always been supportive of her teammates no matter what her role has been on the team. She got to some balls tonight defensively that weren't easy."

Macdonald had eight kills in the second game as the Illini turned a 180-degree turn in the match. The Illini hit .586 to win convincingly 30-13, Macdonald had four of the first nine points for Illinois as the Illini bolted to a 9-3 lead. Fellow middle blocker Vicki Brown had a great night as well. Her kill midway through the game made it 19-6.

Brown and freshman Kylie McCulley actually shared the team lead in kills with 15 apiece, and the Illini had nine aces as a team. Junior Amy Palash, playing with an injury of her own most of the season, put forth a gutsy performance with 10 kills and a .292 attack percentage. Freshman Ashley Edinger tallied a team-best 27 digs.

McCulley and Brown set the tone offensively in game three with five kills apiece. Led by the arm of its big hitter Erica Short (14 kills), Indiana (10-19, 1-16) hung close, trailing just 14-13 and 17-15. Back-to-back service aces from Maconald made it 20-15. After an Indiana point, the third senior, Beth Vrdsky, served seven straight points with Palash and junior Stefanie Alde providing the firepower to put the game out of reach. "I thought the seniors played like seniors tonight," said Hardin. "From the service line to the passing with Beth Vrdsky and Stephanie Obermeier to Mac's performance at the net, they really carried us through."

The Illini closed the door in the fourth game, leading 16-11and 19-12. A pair of kills from Palash made it 23-16. The Illini defense provided the ammunition in the final games with six and five blocks, respectively, in games three and four. Brown led Illinois with three blocks and nine block assists as Illinois tied a season high with 15 blocks as a team.