Sept. 27, 2006

Final Stats

Evanston, Ill. - Illinois used a huge comeback in the third game and got 17 kills from Kayani Turner en route to an impressive 30-21, 30-23, 30-27 victory over Northwestern Wednesday in Evanston. Illinois (10-3, 1-2) hit a season-high .336, including .417 in game two and .351 in game three. Stefanie Alde, who played the last two seasons in Northwestern, added 11 kills and hit a solid .320 against her former teammates.

"This was a confidence performance," said Illinois head coach Don Hardin. "It was good to see them believe in their own abilities. More than anything this was a total team victory. Offensively the passers kept us in the groove so Lizzie (Bazzetta) could keep an eye on the opposing block and take advantage of it. The passing throughout the night helped our offense gain momentum."

Illinois showed a lot of poise in the third game. After controlling most of the first two games, the Illini found themselves down 15-8 in game three. After a weekend in which the Illini let some leads slip away, this time Illinois was on the other end of the spectrum. The Illini got back to their aggressive serving of earlier in the season, posting 10 aces for the match, five from Ashley Edinger. The freshman served five straight points, including three on aces to cut the deficit to 15-14. Fittingly it was Alde who gave Illinois a lead it would not relinquish at 17-16. A Meghan Macdonald ace gave Illinois a 20-18 lead and the teams basically sided out the rest of the way with Turner and Vicki Brown (8 kills) providing the exclamation point with a stuff block.

"We started the same scenario again of losing focus, but this time they locked in and got the job done," Hardin said.

Edinger led a strong back row performance with 13 digs. Bazzetta (41 assists) and Beth Vrdsky added seven digs each. For the match Illinois had 11.5 blocks paced by two solo blocks and two block assists from Brown.

Illinois came out like gangbusters in the first game, jumping to an 8-1 lead. Alde wasted little time in scoring on her former teammates with two kills in the first nine Illinois points. The Illini, who came into the match, ranked 29th in the nation in aces per game, had three services aces, two straight by Edinger and one from Macdonald, who served seven straight points in the early going. The Illini used the block to slow down the Wildcat offense, with five team blocks in game one compared to just two for Northwestern. That forced the Wildcats to hit just -.056 in the first game. The Illini went ahead 19-12 on a right side kill from Alde then extended it to 27-15 thanks to the serving of Edinger. Turner, who had a team-high five kills in the first game, finished off the game with a kill from the left side.

Turner was just getting heated up, striking for seven more kills in game two, including five of the last eight points of the game. Northwestern took the early advantage in the second game, leading by as much as 11-7. Edinger and Bazzetta each served three straight points as Illinois went from down 12-10 to up 17-13. After the Wildcats (6-6, 0-3) closed to within 18-17, Brown scored back-to-back points off and through the Northwestern block to give Illinois a 22-19 lead before Turner exploded down the stretch and Illinois pulled away. The Illini had 4.5 team blocks in the game, including a triple block from Bazzetta, Amy Palash, and Brown. The Illini hit .417 in the game as well.

"Tonight was one of the best blocking performances I have seen from Vicki," Hardin added. "She was the main reason for keeping them on their heels most of the match."

The win was significant for a number of reasons, the least of which got Illinois its first Big Ten win of the year. Secondly, it came on the road against a team picked in the upper division of the conference after advancing to the NCAA Second Round a year ago.

Illinois shoots for two straight Saturday, hosting Iowa at Huff Hall.