Nov. 27, 2010

Final Stats

West Lafayette, Ind. - No. 10 Illinois ended the season with a four-set 25-19, 25-27, 25-19, 28-26 loss to Purdue in West Lafayette. The Illini complete the regular season with a 22-8 overall record and 14-6 and in second place in the Big Ten Conference. Purdue improves to 21-10 overall and 12-8 in the league.

Illinois senior middle blocker Johannah Bangert hit .688 with 11 kills and five block assists a night after a 9-kill, five-block performance against Indiana. Colleen Ward paced Illinois offensively with 17 kills with Michelle Bartsch collecting 15. Setter Hillary Haen had 44 assists and seven digs.

"Jo played her heart out and competed hard," said Illinois head coach Kevin Hambly of Bangert, who stands 16 block assists shy of the all-time Big Ten record in that category. "She played like a senior."

The Illini couldn't slow down a Purdue attack that hit .311 for match, including .357 and .341 in the first and second sets, respectively. Anna Drewry led the Boilermakers with 17 kills while hitting .367. The Illini hit .214 for the match, but improved considerably in the second and fourth sets, hitting .333 and .312, respectively. Purdue had a slight lead in blocks at 12-11 and the Illini amassed 27 hitting errors.

"I like the way we competed, but again we had too many errors," Hambly said referring back to Friday's loss at Indiana.

Purdue dominated the first set, hitting .379 compared to .172 for Illinois. Purdue out-blocked Illinois 3-2 and was paced offensively by Drewry's, five kills. The Illini recovered offensively thanks to five kills and a .400 attack percentage from Ward. The Illini led just once at 1-0 before Purdue scored the next five points. Purdue extended the margin to 10-6 and 16-9 and the Illini could get no closer than four after that.

The key point for Illinois in set two came down 23-22. Purdue had continued to side out on the first ball and hit .341 for that set overall. The Illini inserted Nicole Kump in to block for setter Hillary Haen and got that point before a Johnson and Kump block for point 24. After the teams sided out, Jazmine Orozco scored from the back row to end it. The set saw a number of swings. The Illini darted out to 13-9 lead before Purdue tied it at 15-15. The Boilers took a 20-19 advantage and extended it to 23-21 before Illinois fought back. Bangert was especially strong in the set, hitting .750 with six kills. Bartsch hit .417 with five kills for the Illini.

Purdue jumped out to a 14-7 lead in set three and never looked back. Illinois got as close as 17-14 after a kill on an overpass from Bangert and one of two Ward aces on the night, but Purdue used a 5-1 run to take a commanding 22-15 lead.

The Illini found their offense in set four, leading most of the set and jumping to leads of 14-10 and 19-14. Ward and Orozco came up big for Illinois with six and five kills, respectively, but Purdue used the arm of Ariel Turner and Catherine Rebarchak to battle back and close to within one at 20-19 and tie the set at 24-24. Haen gave Illinois a set point with a kill off the overpass, but Purdue scored the final three points to take the match.

Illinois now awaits the NCAA tournament parings, which will be released Sunday afternoon at 2 pm on ESPN News. The first and second rounds are Dec. 3-4 on campus sites.