Nov. 21, 2009

Box Score

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - It was a festive mood inside Huff Hall Saturday night. First, the Illini volleyball family honored its two seniors, Kylie McCulley and Ashley Edinger. In addition, Laura DeBruler was celebrating her 21st birthday. The junior All-American entertained the nearly 1,500 guests with 18 kills while hitting .424 in a 25-23, 25-11, 25-21 victory over Wisconsin in the final regular season home match of the season. Fifth-ranked Illinois, winners of 14 of its last 15 matches, improves to 15-3 in the Big Ten and 23-4 overall. Wisconsin falls to 6-12 in the conference and 11-16 overall.

"The distractions of senior night are always a challenge," said Illinois head coach Kevin Hambly. "But we handled it well and took care of business."

DeBruler was scintillating at times, tallying seven kills in the third set and adding seven digs for the night. Sophomore Michelle Bartsch had a solid night as well with nine kills and 12 digs, second only to Rachel Feldman (14) in that department.

"Laura hit a couple of balls tonight that I don't think many players in the country can hit," Hambly said.

Illinois had five aces on the night, giving the Illini 16 aces in six sets for the weekend. Once again, the Illini kept their opponent out of system, holding the Badgers to just a .092 hitting percentage.

"We were doing a good job of serving aggressively," DeBruler said. "Everyone was getting after it on the serve."

Wisconsin hit just -.061 in the second set while Illinois sided out at a 90 percent rate. The Illini hit .440 in that set and used an 11-2 run to go from a 10-7 to a 21-9 advantage. Freshman Jackie Wolfe served five of those points.

Wisconsin used 12 different players with Caity Dupont pacing the Badgers with six kills while hitting .278.

The first and third sets were competitive, but the Illini only lost the lead twice during each set. Illinois took the lead for good in set one at 12-11 after falling behind 9-7. Illinois steadily built the lead until Feldman tallied an ace to make it 21-16. Wisconsin used a 4-0 run which included a solo block by Kelsey Maloney to pull to within 23-21, but Illinois sided out from there.

Set three saw more of the same. Illinois scored five straight points, four on the Kylie McCulley serve, to take a 7-3 lead. Wisconsin fought hard, tying the score a 13-13, but Illinois built a 20-16 lead capped off by an Erin Johnson kill on the back slide. Fittingly, the senior McCulley ended the match with an ace.

"We set a goal of playing our best in December and that is almost here," Hambly said. "I think the perception of how well we're capable of playing keeps getting higher and higher. I think we could have played a little better tonight, but we're working harder to reach a new standard."