March 28, 2008

Champaign, Ill. - In a team, there is nothing wrong with a little competitiveness. For Illinois outside hitters Kylie McCulley and Laura DeBruler, their goal this spring has been to make each other better and in turn make the team better.

"It's been kind of like anything you can do I can do better," said assistant coach Kevin Hambly in describing the drive of the two outside hitters. "They're very similar -- they're both 5-11, they're real explosive and can jump. Kylie will see Laura doing something and say `Hey I should try that'. Laura will see Kylie doing something and say `That's pretty cool. I can do that too.' Both of them are pushing each other's level."

With three weekends remaining in spring team workouts, the Illinois volleyball team is focusing on putting the individual training into the overall team system. The Illini head to Lexington, Ky., Saturday to scrimmage against the University of Kentucky, the second competitive weekend of the spring. Two weeks ago, the Illini and UW-Milwaukee scrimmaged in Chicago following a clinic with inner city youth.

DeBruler led all freshmen in the country last year in kills per game, while earning Honorable Mention All-Big Ten honors. The native of Downers Grove is not about to stand pat on her year one success. "I'm trying to become a more vocal leader, not just in leading by example. I've been working a lot on trying to be a bigger and more solid blocker. "

For McCulley, who had 21 kills in a near upset of Minnesota the last week of the 2007 season, becoming a more consistent threat begins with getting over some nagging injuries.

"The big thing for Kylie has been to get her healthy," Hambly said. "The potential is there for her to be an incredible athlete. She can jump, she can move, she can block and hit. Our focus with her is to give her some rest. She didn't jump the first four or five weeks of training. We wanted to get her healthy, then get her in good shape, then start to build to her up. We're starting to see the fruits of that -- she's playing at a high level right now."

McCulley is looking to join DeBruler as a strong pass/hitter, able to play in every rotation. That has meant having to completely change her technique. "It's progressing really well," McCulley said. "We had individual workouts for the first six weeks and had a chance to break down everything. I've had to really start from scratch and learn how to pass all over again, a new way for a new system. That really helped. I'm a lot more confident doing everything. I don't think about it as much. It just flows together."

For McCulley and DeBruler, the bond on the court has been natural. "When we are both going through slide blocking, for example, we have an understanding of what the other is going through and how to help each other fix it," DeBruler said.

McCulley and the Illini also see the benefit of having a full complement of players to work with during the spring. "Compared to my freshman year, it feels like we have a more solid team," McCulley said. "We work really well together and everyone is in the gym. We still have a few players working on rehab here and there, but for the most part it feels good to have a full team. We can put anyone in at any time and can trust them."

"It's the first the time that we've had a lot of players around in the spring that we know are going to contribute in the fall," Hambly said. "In the past we're doing this, but knew we still had to wait on a couple of players. While we have some freshmen coming in who can certainly help us right away, it's nice to have a core nucleus of players coming back."

"This team is very versatile," McCulley added. "We have tons of line-ups we can use and know any line-up is going to be a good one."

One thing has been evident, everyone loves to play and compete. "Everyone has a great attitude and comes ready to work hard every day," said DeBruler, who adds the team had also had fun playing basketball or in spin class (stationary bike).

"It's probably some of the most fun I've had in the spring because we're teaching them all kinds of stuff," Hambly said. "We have (setter) Lizzie (Bazzetta), who's been with us for four years and knows what our system is about and we have all these freshmen that are still learning our system. We've broken it down to the bare bones of what we want to do and what we want to accomplish. Now we're building it back up. It's fun to see them take the things they worked on individually and gradually see where that fits into our system. It's starting to make a lot of sense to them."

If all goes well, DeBruler and McCulley could lead an explosive and defensive firepower come the fall.