by Mike Koon, Illinois Sports Information

In a matter of two matches last week, two major school career records were broken. Senior Laura DeBruler became Illinois' all-time kills leader in a match at Wisconsin Wednesday, then on Saturday fellow senior Johannah Bangert became Illinois' all-time blocks leader. What those have in common is that they both broke marks set by 1988 Honda Player of the Year Mary Eggers.

Eggers had much in common with the current Illini. For starters she helped see a rise of the Illinois program, both in ranking and in popularity. Eggers started every match for the Illini and can remember her first game when a crowd of 80 witnessed the match at Kenney Gym. By the time Eggers was done, matches were selling out and Illinois reached a pair of Final Fours. DeBruler, Bangert and company have seen a sellout at Huff and the Illini reach as high as No. 3 in the country.

Eggers was engulfed in sports, reading the sports section over breakfast with her family. She could have played a number of sports, but chose her passion of volleyball.

When Eggers committed to Illinois in 1984, the Illini were coming off a 5-25 season and were in the midst of an 18-15 year. With Eggers on the team, that record increased exponentially to 39-3 in 1985, 36-3 in 1986, 31-7 in 1987 and 30-4 in 1988. Illinois had seen moderate success in the years leading up to the recruitment of Bangert and DeBruler, but they too chose Illinois to help raise the program to an elite level.

"I liked the fact that the team was up and coming and I wanted to be part of building something at Illinois," Eggers remembered.

Don Hardin knows a lot about both eras, having coached both Eggers (as an assistant) and DeBruler and Bangert (as a head coach). He notes a lot of similarities between the recruitment of both fan favorites - DeBruler and Eggers. Both were Division I prospects, but neither were at the top of their classes. Both had big senior high school seasons after committing to Illinois.

"We saw some special things in Mary and we were able to get her committed," Hardin recalled. "Then her game took off. By then it was too late for other schools because we had established a deep relationship with her. We had good recruiting, but Mary made it great. (Then recruiting coordinator and assistant coach) Mary Hambly saw those same qualities in Laura, then after she committed, she too really blossomed as a player."

Even for a talented player, it was remarkable for one person to hold both records simply because in today's system, the outside hitters generally lead in kills while the middles pace in blocks. But Eggers was able to hold both records for 22 years. She gives credit to the coaching staff and setter Disa Johnson for giving her the ball so many times.

"They gave me a lot of confidence," Eggers said. "They believed that I could get the job done. We ran a pretty quick offense and, being a middle, I got a lot of sets. Today you have outside hitters that are bigger and can put balls away pretty easily so they're getting more sets. I was fortunate to play in a time that things were mixed up a bit more."

Already a great offensive player, Mary Eggers developed into a great blocker while at Illinois

"She was not a great blocker and not a strong defensive player," recalled Hardin. "My job was to push her out of her comfort zone on those things. It was really frustrating for her, but she mastered it because she worked and worked."

One of Hardin's jobs on the bench was to keep the point-scoring total of all the players.

"What I came to notice was that at the end of every game, it would be Eggers stuff block, Eggers kill, Eggers ace. Right at the time it mattered, her number was always there.

"From an offensive perspective, what was unbelievable (about Eggers) was not just her perception of where the blockers were, but also where the defenders were and that just frustrated the opposing team to death."

Eggers was super competitive. Despite not having much experience in tennis and no backhand, she entered a tennis tournament, switched hands with her racquet to play each side as a forehand, and then proceeded to win the tournament. Once when a tornado warning halted play during a match, head coach Mike Hebert found Eggers and a teammate diving to the floor while playing handball in the hallway.

"We were really competitive, not just in matches, but also in practice," Eggers said. "We enjoyed going to practice and battling against each other. We'd get into heated arguments over points in scrimmages. When it came to match time, we'd take that out on our opponents. We were a confident team. I don't think we believed we were ever going to lose a match."

"The thing that set Mary apart was her intense competitive nature," Hardin said. "She would make up games just so there would be competition on the bus. She thrived for the competition."

Above her bed in her apartment, Eggers cut out the head shots of the middle blockers on all the other Big Ten teams, then put lines through the ones that Illinois had beaten and targets through the ones the Illini had yet to play.

At the time the United States men's national team was winning gold medals and Hebert and Hardin attended several of their practices to try to copy that success.

"What we noticed was the intensity in some of their practices was something we wanted to emulate in our gym and Mary was the easy way to get that stirred up because she was so competitive herself," Hardin said.

On the flip side, Eggers fed off the approach of the coaching staff.

"I enjoyed Mike as a coach because he was very analytical," Eggers said. "At the end of practice, he would show us our statistics and held us accountable for everything we did."

In Hebert's book, Insights and Strategies for Winning Volleyball, Hebert talked about what Eggers meant to the program:

"In 1985 everything was to go our way, and one of the most important things going for Illinois was Mary Eggers, on our side of the net. She was a talented quick hitter, maybe one of the best ever. But even more important, she was a born winner. No, that's not strong enough. Mary absolutely hated to lose. She became so filled with disgust when we fell behind in a match that she single-handedly would will our team to victory. She taught our team how to win even when we weren't in the mood."

A reporter once asked Hardin to explain the success of the 1985 season. "That's easy," he said. "We recruited Mary Eggers."

Even Illini football coach Mike White was impressed, stating, "I want my quarterbacks to have the same look in their eyes that Mary Eggers has."

Much the same as the 2010 season, Kenney Gym began to sell out.

"I remember people there before we even got to the locker room," Eggers said. "They would cheer as we were walking into the locker room. It was similar to Huff only closer. The balcony was right on the court it felt like. The fans had such an impact on how we played and the outcome of the matches."

Illinois dominated the Big Ten in the mid '80s, winning three straight conference titles while losing just three conference matches in three years. The Big Ten was not as competitive as it is today, so Hebert took his club to places like Hawaii, Long Beach State, Texas and Nebraska to prepare for the post-season.

"Our biggest rivalry was Nebraska," Eggers said. "That was the team that was stopping us from getting into the Final Four."

That all changed in 1987 when Illinois hosted the NCAA Regional at Kenney Gym. After surviving a five-set tussle with Western Michigan, the Illini cruised to a straight sets win over their nemesis, Nebraska, 15-11, 15-12, 15-5, and future Olympic setter Lori Endicott.

"We didn't want the match to end because we were having so much fun," Eggers remembers. "The crowd was just ready to erupt. It meant a lot -- singing the Alma Mater with the whole crowd, having the celebration on the court, and sending Illinois to the Final Four for the first time."

The following year Nebraska was there again, but the Huskers were upset by Oklahoma in the Regional Semifinal and the Illini again had a tougher time in the semis (a five-set win over Notre Dame) than in the finals (where Illinois handled the Sooners in straight sets) to earn a repeat trip to the Final Four.

"Combine those attributes into one player. That's why Mary got voted the best athlete. It's unbelievable that Mary has held (those records) that long in such a competitive conference. It's amazing that we have such a great team with two great players such as Jo and Laura and it took two of them to break each of the records." Former Illini coach Don Hardin

It was while working summer camp for Hebert that her career path diverted toward coaching. He asked if she would be interested in applying for an assistant job at Illinois State, which she did and spent five seasons in Normal.

Following stints as an assistant coach for her setter, Disa Johnson, at James Madison and her husband, Blaine Tendler, at Drake, she accepted the head coaching job at Elon University, where she currently is in her eighth season as the leader of the Phoenix program as a young member of Division I. In 2008, the team won its most matches as a Division I member (19) and last season topped that with 23 victories.

Fast forward to 2010 where the Illini are again attracting high level recruitments and are set up for deep runs in the tournament. Hardin compares DeBruler's game to Eggers in a number of different ways.

"They both have a great repertoire of weapons," Hardin said. "They are not one dimensional. They aren't even two dimensional. They are crafty. They know which one to pull out at which time and when to bring the heat. Neither one would be the fastest or jump the highest. I see a lot more talented kids on the floor every Big Ten match that aren't nearly as good of players as those two."

DeBruler has been infectious in a different manner. While working on a different skill, many players might get down on themselves when they make mistakes. DeBruler, instead keeps working until she gets it right and then blurts out something like "That's sweet," "That's awesome" or "Way to go, Laura."

As far as Bangert is concerned Hardin said, "It's amazing what Jo is doing right now, leading the country in blocking two straight years. She has great instinct and does it far better than players with greater size than her.

"Combine those attributes into one player," Hardin continued. "That's why Mary got voted the best athlete. It's unbelievable that Mary has held (those records) that long in such a competitive conference. It's amazing that we have such a great team with two great players such as Jo and Laura and it took two of them to break each of the records."

Eggers still holds the Illini ace record with an astounding 180 and her .420 attack percentage in not only Illinois' best but fifth-best in NCAA history. She also ranks eighth in school history in digs with 1,092 (DeBruler just passed her in that department). Eggers continues to be a fan of the program and says she loves the Big Ten Network because she can follow the conference and especially Illinois.

On having her records broken, Eggers, who got to see Illinois in person last November at Northwestern, simply said, "It's about time. It's good that Illinois is a top-10 team again and can build some new memories and continue on that history. Hopefully Illini fans will be talking about this team for some time."