Oct. 13, 2007

Final Stats

Minneapolis, Minn. - Despite the fact they are a young team, the Illini have not been intimidated by playing on the road in 2007. Illinois swept a Big Ten road weekend for the second straight trip and improved to 4-1 on the road in conference play. Saturday's victory was as big as any in several seasons, though, as the Illini stunned No. 11 Minnesota in four games - 30-25, 30-25, 21-30, 30-18.

The win was big for several reasons. Illinois (12-6 overall, 4-4 in the Big Ten) has been in every match this season against ranked teams, but the Illini were finally able to push through and prevail in the end. Secondly, this marked the first road victory against a top 11 team since upsetting then No. 6 Minnesota in five games on Oct. 12, 2002. The Illini have also put together four straight road Big Ten victories for the first time since 1992.

Illinois showed all the poise of a veteran team being the aggressor in three of the four games, while Minnesota struggled with overpasses on some aggressive Illini serves and attacks.

The story of the night was the return of senior middle blocker Vicki Brown, who missed Friday's match at Iowa with an injured hand. Brown tested it at practice and put together a tremendous performance in the victory. Brown had 14 kills and hit .296, including a .714 performance in the first game, and led the team with six block assists.

"I'm happy Vicki was able to play tonight because I know every one of those blocks hurt," said Illinois head coach Don Hardin. "She's a tough lady and gutted it out. She would turn around and smile at the team, but I know she was in a lot of pain."

Illinois set the tone in game one as Brown and freshman Laura DeBruler put together an impressive performance at the net. DeBruler had seven kills in each of the first two games and hit .385 from the left side in the opening game. Brown, meanwhile, had six kills while hitting .714 in game one.

The Illini, though got contributions for everyone who played on the night. Illinois trailed 15-11 early, but out-scored the Gophers 14-7 to take a 25-22 advantage. In that run, senior Amy Palash (15 digs) had one-handed dig saves, freshman Ashley Edinger (20 digs) took away the Minnesota cross-court left side attack, and junior setter Lizzie Bazzetta (49 assists, 11 digs) converted on an incredible 17 of 19 setting opportunities. Four different players had kills and the great defense forced several Minnesota hitting errors. Junior Kristine Anderson served the final two points of the game as Brown had kills in two of the final three Illinois points.

Illinois trailed only at 1-0 in controlling game two. DeBruler added another seven kills and freshman Johannah Bangert (9 kills) put away the Minnesota overpasses. The Illini held the Gophers to just a .038 attack percentage in game two.

Minnesota would not go away without a fight, coming alive in the third game to hit .270 while the Illini hit just -.065. The Gophers had 6.5 of their team's 17.5 blocks in winning game three handily.

The Illini regained their composure they showed in the first two games, however, in turning around a 10-8 deficit in the fourth game. The Illini out-scored Minnesota 22-11 the rest of the way. The key sequence came with Anderson serving. The Illini scored five straight points, four off the Anderson serve. Brown, freshman Nicole Kump, and Bazzetta teamed for a triple block and the Gophers again started pressing offensively after that.

After Minnesota scored the next point, Palash bettered Anderson's run by serving an incredible 10 straight points. DeBruler got rolling again scoring three of the final four points in a 16-2 Illini run. The freshman duplicated her seven-kill performance from the first two games to finish with a match-high 24 kills on the night.

"This was a huge win for us because we have come so close this year against ranked teams," Brown said. "This is the big turnaround we've been waiting for."

"My hats off to our players for staying so composed," Hardin added. "I give a lot of credit to my assistant Kevin Hambly, who is responsible for the significant change in our defense and our ball control and to our players for not breaking down in those critical moments. Even though we are .500 in the league, all of our losses have been hard-fought contested matches. This win has the potential to be a confidence booster."