Aug. 24, 2007

Box Score

Dayton, Ohio - Illini fans are excited to see how their highly touted freshman class would respond in 2007. If the first results are any indication, they are in for a thrilling ride. Led by 28 kills from freshman Laura DeBruler, the Illini overcame a slow start to top Bowling Green 22-30, 30-28, 30-28, 30-19 at the Dayton Flyer Classic.

"That's the best debut match that I've ever seen by a freshman," said Illinois head coach Don Hardin. "To be able to come out and do that on the road is very impressive, especially with the number of swings she had (62). We put a load on her and she handled it with ease. She's not a typical freshman."

Beyond the stats, DeBruler brought energy to the court. "I love playing volleyball, it's just so much fun," she said.

Bowling Green returned all but one player from a team that won 26 games and finished second to nationally-ranked Ohio in the Mid-American Conference a year ago. The veteran Falcon team took advantage of some early Illinois mistakes to take the opening game. BGSU took a sizable 17-9 advantage, but Illinois was able to play them even the rest of game one.

Bowling Green hit .389 and .302 in the first games, respectively, but the Illini were able to slow the Falcons down in the third and fourth games with .116 and .132 clips. The two teams spent games two and three in a back and forth battle of runs before the potent Illinois attack won out in a big way in game four, hitting .317.

DeBruler picked up steam as the match went on and hit .323 for the night with 62 swings to go along with 11 digs, one ace and a block. Her biggest performance came in the fourth game as she hit .558 with 11 kills.

DeBruler wasn't the only freshman impressive on this night. Middle blocker Johannah Bangert hit .588 with 11 kills and two block assists. Bangert was especially critical in the third game with six kills in eight swings.

Illinois came out strong in the second game, busting out to a 10-6 lead. The Illini led by as many as six in the second game before the Falcons tied the score at 26 and 27. Senior Amy Palash had two of the final three kills of the game for the Illini, cutting the ball just inside the antenna twice. Palash was second on the team with 14 kills after entering the game for the Kylie McCulley, who was suffering from an abdominal sprain.

"We like the versatility of being able to bring in some key players that have experience and composure," Hardin said. "She really showed that tonight and had a critical kill in game two that helped turn the match around."

Led by Bangert and DeBruler offensively, the Illini came through with a carbon copy in the third game, pulling it out after a 27-27 tie. Ashley Edinger dove all over the court en route to 24 digs. The Illini used a 6-2 offense, utilizing both setters Lizzie Bazzetta (28 assists) and Hillary Haen (26 assists).

"It was huge recovery led by a freshmen offensively," Hardin said. "They showed a lot of composure on the road against a team that had an incredible record last year. They turned the match completely 180 from being in trouble in game one to absolutely breaking the other team in game four. Lizzie and Hillary did a great job setting the hot hand."

Corey Domek led the way for Bowling Green with 26 kills and a .517 hitting percentage. The Illini meet both IPFW (Noon CST) and host Dayton (6:30 p.m.), two teams that also won 20 matches in 2006, on Saturday.