Sept. 30, 2006
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CHAMPAIGN,Ill. -Sophomore Kayani Turner had one the best nights of her career with 23 kills and a .333 hitting percentage and junior Amy Palash had a career-high 16 kills while hitting .293 as Illinois defeated Iowa 30-22, 24-30, 21-30, 21-30 at Huff Hall Saturday night. The victory moves Illinois (11-3, 2-2) into a tie for fifth place in the Big Ten ahead of road matches at Michigan State and Michigan next week.
The Illini followed up 10 aces in Thursday's victory over Northwestern with eight more Saturday while Lizzie Bazzetta and Ashley Edinger tallied 23 digs apiece. Besides the digs, the Illini allowed just four service aces. Vicki Brown had another solid night with 14 kills and a .306 hitting percentage. Bazzetta, who entered the week ranked fourth nationally in assists, added 59 in four games for her sixth double-double of the season. In addition to Bazzetta and Edinger, senior Beth Vrdsky reached double figures with 15 digs.
Blocking was key, particularly in the first game when Illinois totaled six. The 13 blocks overall are two off a season high. Brown had two solos and five block assists, while Meghan Macdonald added six block assists.
"Our defense is at the heart of our preparation," Palash said. "We work on it the most during practice."
"Lizzie played great defense and set the ball well," Illinois head coach Don Hardin added. "We served effectively, and Amy Palash did a great job tooling the block and was steady on serve receive."
It took awhile for the Illini to get going in game one, hitting at less than .100 for the first half of game one. However, with the game tied at 16, Illinois behind the arm of Brown got the momentum going. A Brown kill and a solo block made it 23-18. Palash connected with a shot off the block to make it 24-18. A Brown kill, a solo block and a stuff block by Brown and Turner gave the Illini a commanding 27-20 lead before Turner closed the game with a kill off the Hawkeye block. Illinois raised its hitting percentage to .214 for the game while limiting Iowa to .029. Turner and Brown had six and four kills, respectively, in the opening game. The Illini also had six blocks in the game.
Illinois wasn't able to recover from a slow start in the second game, falling behind 14-9. The Illini did get the game tied at 19 on three service points from Palash, but Iowa pushed ahead 26-21 and finished off the game. Catherine Smale did most of the damage for the Hawkeyes with nine kills in the second game as the Hawkeyes out-hit the Illini .261-.163. Brown had five kills and a block assist in the game, while Turner had six kills and hit over .300.
The Illini's aggressive serve was the story of game three. Palash had two aces in the game and several others produced strong enough serves to keep the Hawkeyes on their heels. Turner served four straight points as Illinois built an 8-2 advantage. . Although Iowa closed to within 12-11, Illinois regained control. Stefanie Alde, suffering from a broken finger, got things going midway through the game. First she combined with Macdonald on a block, and later took a terrific Bazzetta set and deposited it between defenders on the other side. Turner served two big points that gave Illinois some breathing room at 21-17. Palash aced at 28-21, Brown scored on the backslide and Macdonald and Bazzetta combined on the block for the game winner.
Illinois left used that momentum to dominate the fourth game. Illinois built an 8-2 lead and increased it to 16-9 after a pair of kills from Brown. Turner again was dominant at the net with seven kills in the fourth game.
"Winning two Big Ten matches this week gives us a huge boost heading into next week at the Michigans," Hardin said.
