Nov. 19, 2010

Box Score

Champaign, Ill. - Michelle Bartsch had her fourth 20-kill match of the season in helping ninth-ranked Illinois to a 25-20, 19-25, 25-22, 25-14 victory over Iowa Friday. The victory marked the Illini's 22nd straight win at Huff Hall, which ties a record for the building, and in the process kept Illinois (22-5, 14-3) tied with Penn State in the loss column for first place in the Big Ten heading into Saturday's home finale against No. 19 Minnesota. Iowa, which was coming off a win over nationally-ranked Michigan, fell to 7-19 overall and 2-15 in the conference.

With the matches winding down and Illinois battling for its first Big Ten title in 18 years, the Illini got a little tight and excited and it showed at the end of set two and the first half of set three as the Illini hit just .026 in the second set and Iowa came back to win that frame.

"I thought there were times when we were feeling the pressure to be perfect, especially that second set," said Illinois head coach Kevin Hambly. "They started to make a run, and I was looking at our team, and they were nervous and scared a little bit of losing, instead of just going out and enjoying playing,"

However, paced by a steady performance by Bartsch, who hit. 327 with 21 kills and 13 digs, Illinois hit over .300 in winning sets one and four. The Illini also sided out at a high percentage in those sets -76 percent in set one and 85 percent in set four. Fellow junior Colleen Ward, like the Illini team as a whole started fast, with seven kills in the opening set, and finished strong hitting .500 with four kills in set four, and finished the night with 16 kills and 12 digs.

Illinois also had its best blocking match in three weeks, totaling 13, paced by eight block assists from senior Johannah Bangert. In the process the Washington, Mo., native moved into fifth on the Big Ten all-time block assist list with 581, just 31 shy of the record, and into ninth on the conference's total block list with 621. Hillary Haen had 45 assists, four shy of fifth on the Illinois career assist list, and was one of four Illini in with double digits in digs. Freshman Jennifer Bonilla led the way in that department with 19.

Illinois never trailed in taking the opening set. First Bartsch, then Ward came out hot in controlling the frame. Bartsch was good on her first four attack attempts and finished the set with six kills while hitting .444. Ward, meanwhile, had kills on four of Illinois' final seven points in the set, using a variety of swings, hitting high off hands and cross court and down the line. The Illini hit .343 as a team and also played stingy defense paced by Bonilla's seven digs. Illinois gradually built leads of 10-5 and 13-7 and Iowa got no closer than three after that.

Both teams' blocks were instrumental in set two. Illinois had five blocks in the set while Iowa tallied four. The Illini had eight hitting errors in total and hit only .026. Bartsch did what she could to keep Illinois going with six more kills in the frame. Illinois led 13-12 and 16-13 before Iowa went on a run on the serve of Nikki Dailey, scoring seven straight points to take a commanding 20-16 lead. The Illini closed to within 21-18 on a pair of kills from Bartsch, but Iowa closed it out on a kill from Megan Eskew.

Iowa took the momentum from the second set into the first half of set three. The Hawkeyes built a 14-9 lead, but Illinois used a 7-1 run to take the lead. After not tallying a kill in set two, Ward had four in the rally. The set itself had 11 ties and four lead changes. Tied at 22, the Illini scored the final three points. First Haen found the middle of the Iowa defense on a setter dump then teamed with Bangert on a block of the left side attack. Jackie Wolfe completed the comeback with a service ace as the Illini eked out the win.

Illinois dominated set four from the get-go, jumping out to an 11-6 lead and extending it 20-10 before polishing off the victory.