Nov. 7, 2009

Box Score

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Fifth-ranked Illinois entered Saturday night's tilt winners of 10 straight Big Ten matches, the school's longest conference streak in 17 years. The last team to defeat the Illini, Michigan State, came calling to Huff Hall. The Illini avenged that loss and in the process extended their winning streak to 11 with a convincing 25-19, 25-12, 25-19 victory over the Spartans in front of a crowd of 1,758.

Michigan State was competitive for the first half of the first set, but the Illini block came alive and eventually Michigan State hitters began a string of errors. Up 18-17 in the first set, the Illini went on a 7-2 run to close the set then bolted to a 10-1 in the second set. Illinois took set two easily then broke open a 14-14 score in the third set with an 11-5 run to take the match.

Junior Laura DeBruler led the way offensively, hitting a robust .538 with 15 kills. Junior Johannah Bangert had another strong night on the block with eight block assists, four kills and a .400 hitting percentage. Illinois hit .291 for the match, including .478 in a dominant second set.

Illinois out-blocked the Spartans 10-2, giving the Illini a 27-8 advantage in that department for the weekend. Even when Illinois wasn't blocking the Michigan State attack, the Spartans misfired, hitting -.038 for the match, including -.231 in the second set.

"I think our block set the tone, then we started digging a lot of balls and finally we frustrated them and they started hitting them out of bounds," summed up head coach Kevin Hambly.

Besides the winning streak in general, the story of the weekend was the first starts for sophomore Rachel Feldman at libero. Feldman past the test with a team-leading nine digs. For the weekend, she had 28 digs, and was served at 54 times with just one reception error.

"I've had experience digging balls on the other side of the net from Kylie McCulley and Laura DeBruler, so that part wasn't different," Feldman said in comparing practice to the game experience. "The difference was playing with a new group of players."

If the Illini are to make it 12 straight, they must end Penn State's 91-match streak next Friday in State College, Pa. Illinois returns to Huff for its final regular season home matches against Iowa and Wisconsin on Nov. 20-21.