Complete Match Notes in PDF Format

Illini last remaining Big Ten unbeaten
To demonstrate just how competitive the Big Ten is this season, after just two weekends, only one team remains without a loss and that team is Illinois. Last week the Illini won a tough four-set battle at Wisconsin and then held off #25 Northwestern in five sets.

Two Illinois records go down
Last week saw Illini Laura DeBruler break the school's career kills record during a match at Wisconsin then Johannah Bangert capture the school's career blocks record in the Northwestern match. Both records were held by 1988 Honda Player of the Year Mary Eggers.
• Both players broke those marks in dramatic fashion with DeBruler amassing 26 kills vs. the Badgers and Bangert 10 blocks vs. the Wildcats. DeBruler also moved past Eggers into seventh on the all-time digs list, now with 1,096.

More Big Ten honors for Illini
Five different Illinois players have claimed six different weekly Big Ten honors. This week Laura DeBruler was named Big Ten Player of the Week and libero Jennifer Bonilla earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
• Earlier this year, Hillary Haen was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Aug. 30; junior Michelle Bartsch and Bonilla earned Player and Freshman of the Week, respectively, on Sept. 6; while junior Colleen Ward was named Player of the Week on Sept. 27.
• For DeBruler, it marked her eighth Player of the Week honor of her career. DeBruler set a career-high with 28 digs to go along with 21 kills in a five-set won over No. 25 Northwestern Saturday night.
• Bonilla tallied 32 digs in the victory over Wisconsin, which is tied for the sixth most in a match in school history, and followed that up with 27 digs in a five-set victory over Northwestern. For the week, Bonilla averaged 6.6 digs per set and committed just two reception errors in 73 attempts.

Illinois moves up to No. 6 in poll
Illinois has been ranked in the top 10 in the AVCA Coaches Poll for all six weeks of the season. The Illini move up another spot to No. 6 this week after defeating both Wisconsin and Northwestern
• The top four teams remain the same with Stanford garnering all 60 first-place votes in the top spot followed by Florida, Nebraska and Penn State. Hawaii, Illinois and California all moved up a spot each to fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, followed by USC, who dropped from No. 5 to No. 8 after suffering its first loss of the season. Washington and Iowa State round out the top 10.

A total of eight Illinois opponents find themselves in the rankings this week - Nebraska (3), Penn State (4), Texas (11), Minnesota (16), Michigan (18), Dayton (19), Cincinnati (21) and Northwestern (24) with 2010 foes Ohio St., Middle Tennessee and Purdue receiving votes.

Illinois gets it done in Madison
• Illinois lost 12 straight matches to Wisconsin in Madison from 1996-2007. But on Sept. 29 the Illini continued a different streak with their third straight win there. That marked the first three-match win streak for the Illini in Madison since 1987-89.

Media Information:
Illinois takes to the road at Michigan State and Michigan this week. Radio: Both matches will be carried live by WDWS (AM 1400) with Dave Loane and Mike Koon on the call.
• Video: Friday's match will also be streamed live on bigtennetwork.com

Illinois building home edge: Illinois is averaging 2,567 fans per match in six matches thus far. The Illini are on pace for their best home attendance year since averaging 2,657 in 1993 and 3,098 in 1992, both of which led the nation those years. • The Illini had its first sellout since 1992 when 4,141 saw Illinois top Penn State in five sets on Sept. 24. The Illini also drew 3,127 for the Northwestern match on Oct. 2, also a five-set victory. That marked the first time since 1993 the Illini have drawn more than 3,000 for match twice in the same season.
• Illinois is 6-0 at home this year and 33-4 in front of the home crowd the past three years combined. Two of the losses have come to No. 1 Penn State.
• In the years that Illinois has qualified for the NCAA Tournament, Illinois has a 230-45 home record (.836).
• Illinois is currently eighth nationally in home attendance:

Illini third in initial RPI list:
Illinois ranks third in the first RPI released this week. The enitre Big Ten was ranked in the first 58.

Michigan State tries to duplicate last year's victory: Illinois placed second in the Big Ten last year with a 16-4 record. That included two losses to Penn State and one to Minnesota (both Final Four teams). The Illini also suffered a five-set defeat to then No. 23 Michigan State in East Lansing. The Spartans made the NCAA Tournament despite finishing last in the conference at 5-15 because of a strong enough RPI, but at 17-15 needed the win over Illinois to get enough wins to qualify for the tournament.
• Illinois leads the all-time series, 41-22 and has won five of the past six matches over the Spartans.

Michigan, Illinois meet again
Illinois and Michigan last crossed paths in December, although they never played each other. Both were assigned to the Stanford Regional where both fell to Hawaii (Illinois in the Sweet 16 round and Michigan in the Elite Eight round). The Wolverines defeated Stanford in their first match there.
• Illinois has won four matches in a row vs. the Wolverines, but of those two went five sets. Last season the Illini defeated the then No. 6 Wolverines in five sets in Ann Arbor. The Illini lead the all-time series 40-18.

Zimmerman, Haen two of nation's best
Michigan's Lexi Zimmeran and Illinois' Hillary Haen are considered two of the best setters in the country. Zimmerman was a first-team All-American in 2009 while Haen was an Honorable Mention choice. In high school, Zimmerman and Haen, two Illinois products, ranked as the top setters and the 17th and 23rd nationally overall in their recruiting class according to prepvolleyball.com.

Bangert moving up NCAA blocks ranking; Illini block coming alive
When the first weekly NCAA statistics were released on Sept. 12, Illinois ranked 112th nationally in blocks, while Johannah Bnagert, who led the nation in blocks for two straight years, was 25th individually. The dropped to 150th and Bangert to 69th a week later.

Over the last two weeks, however things have changed. The Illini have amassed 45 blocks combined in the past four matches while Bangert has been in on 30 of those blocks to rise to 15th nationally at 1.35 blocks per set, trailing leader Brittany Hewitt of Hawaii (1.77) by 0.42 blocks per set.

Defeating top-five teams: Illinois now has five victories in school history over top-five opponents with three of those five now coming on the road. •The win over Penn State gives Illinois two wins over top-five teams in the same season for the first time in school history. The Illini defeated No. 2 Texas in Austin on Sept. 3 as well as No. 2 Penn State on Sept. 24. Prior to the win over Texas, the last top-five win came on Sept. 11, 2004, a five-set victory over No. 1 USC. The 16th-ranked Illini defeated No. 3 Hawaii on the island in three sets on Nov. 4, 1992, and eighth-ranked Illinois defeated No. 4 Nebraska in Lincoln in five sets on Nov. 11, 1989.

Illini top NCAA stat rankings
Illinois ranks fourth in the NCAA in kills (14.87 per set) and third in assists (14.04).
• Hillary Haen ranks second individually in assists at 12.36 per set.
• Johannah Bangert is ninth in hitting percentage (.416)
• Colleen Ward ranks 29th nationally in kills per set with 4.13 and 31st in points per set (4.69).

Illini battle illness, injury
Illinois is undefeated this season with a line-up that is full strength, but that has happened just twice since Sept. 4. Laura DeBruler missed two weeks and five matches with mononucleosis.

Even without DeBruler, the Illini took the first two sets at Nebraska in front of nearly 12,000 fans. That is until right side hitter Michelle Bartsch suffered an ankle sprain in set three. The Huskers took the next three sets, winning 16-14 in the fifth.

Bartsch didn't miss a complete match, but without DeBruler Illinois also lost to then unranked Cincinnati after dropping the first two sets.

Illinois had a full complement of players in home victories over Penn St. and Ohio St., but found out the following Monday that middle blocker Erin Johnson also had mono. Johnson missed the next last weeks matches at Wisconsin and vs. Northwestern and is expected to miss this weekend's matches as well. Illini prove their depth • Senior Nicole Kump is filling in for Johnson at middle blocker after also filling in for Michelle Bartsch on the right side late in the match with Nebraska.

Kump has occasionally come into the line-up for Hillary Haen to provide a right side blocker during critical points.

Now back to her natural position at middle blocker, Kump had four kills (hitting .333) and three blocks at Wisconsin and four kills (hitting .571) with four blocks vs. Northwestern

• Without DeBruler, junior Colleen Ward was the go-to player. She amassed three straight 20-kill matches, including a career-best 29 vs. Cincinnati. Ward has been named to three All-Tournament Teams. In the five matches in DeBruler's absence, Ward had 106 kills (5.30 kps) and is hitting .325.

• Freshman Jazmie Orozco got the start for DeBruler in those five matches.Orozco posted five straight double-digit kills matches, including a career-high 20 at Nebraska. In five starts, she had 70 kills, 68 digs and is hitting .268. • With Ward struggling at Wisconsin, Orozco played the final two sets and amassed six digs in the victory over the Badgers.

Illinois goes interactive: Illinois sports information staffers Mike Koon and Matt Wille will be blogging live at nearly every Illinois volleyball match this season on fightingillini.com.