Nov. 26, 2010

Final Stats

Bloomington, ind. - No. 10 Illinois got 19 kills from Colleen Ward and 16 kills from Michelle Bartsch, but Indiana pulled out a 25-20, 22-25, 25-20, 25-22 victory over the Illini in Bloomington. The Hoosiers have now beaten the top four teams in the conference in their gym - Penn State, Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan and improve to 20-11 overall and 8-11 in the conference. Illinois, who ends the regular season on Saturday night at Purdue, has clinched second place in the conference with a 14-5 record in the league and 22-7 mark overall.

Indiana hit .285 for the match compared to just .184 for Illinois. The Hoosiers committed just five unforced errors in four sets.

"The difference in the match were the errors," said Illinois head coach Kevin Hambly. "We are going to have to do a better job of limiting those errors. We got impatient and tried to score right away. They, on other hand, hit for a high percentage and played real low error volleyball. That's how you should have to play."

Indiana All-Big Ten performer Ashley Benson was really tough, hitting .469 with 18 kills and six blocks. Indiana out-blocked Illinois 13-11 with Bartsch leading the Illinois defense with six block assists. Johnson and Johannah Bangert had five block assists apiece. That gives Bangert 591 block assists for her career, which is just 21 shy of the all-time Big Ten record. The senior from Washington, Mo., hit .500 with nine kills offensively.

Indiana hit .306 in taking the first set behind a balanced attack. Benson got going midway through the set, hitting .667 with six kills on the opening frame. The Illini struggled to get their outside attack going, hitting just .054 with the left side contributing just two of Illinois' eight kills in the set. Bartsch had five of Illinois' nine kills in the set. Illinois had a brief lead at 4-3 before Indiana went on a 5-0 run, taking an 8-4 lead. The advantage reached 14-9 and 16-11 and the Illini could get no closer than three after that.

Ward had seven kills and Bangert added four kills in the second set. The Illini hit .214 in the set and were able to limit Benson's swings as she had just two kills and hit .000. Illinois started strong, taking an 11-6 lead before Indiana came storming back to tie it at 13-13. The set had eight ties, including at 19, 20, 21, and 22. Illinois scored the final three points of the set, the last two off the serve of Jackie Wolfe. Ward was in on three of the final four Illinois, including on a solo block to end it.

Benson was able to score at will in the third set, hitting .600 with six kills. Illinois countered with five kills from Ward and four from freshman Jazmine Orozco. The Hoosiers out-hit the Illini .275-.163. Indiana used a pair of runs to win going away, using a 4-0 run to go up 14-6, then after Illinois closed to within 16-13, scored five straight points to take a commanding 21-13 advantage.

Indiana used another run late in the fourth set to pull away. Tied at 14-14, the Hoosiers scored six straight points to take a 20-14 advantage. Illinois held off three set points until Benson finished it off with a kill out of the middle.

Hambly emphasized the key to ending the season on a high again will be limiting the errors.

"Our effort and our competitiveness were there, we just have to execute." he said.