Nov. 3, 2010

Box Score

Champaign, Ill. - No. 6 Illinois put three players in double digits in kills in a straight sets 25-19, 25-21, 25-23 victory over Wisconsin Wednesday night at Huff Hall. The win, Illinois' seventh straight overall and 21st straight at Huff, improves the first-place Illini to 20-3 overall and 12-1 in the Big Ten while Wisconsin falls to 14-10 overall and 3-10 in the league.

Illinois juniors Colleen Ward and Michelle Bartsch paced the Illini with 15 kills, while freshman Jazmine Orozco had a quality match with 11 kills while hitting .526.

Orozco scored one of the most important points of the match. In set three with Illinois seemingly on the doorstep of victory ahead 22-15, Wisconsin went a furry to tie the set at 23-23. That's when setter Hillary Haen (41 assists, 10 digs) set Orozco for a big swing and a kill deep in the Wisconsin line. From there, Jennifer Bonilla's strong serve led to a Wisconsin hitting error to end the match.

" She has always been tough at the end of the set," Illinois head coach Kevin Hambly said of Orozco. "In the big matches she has played she has always been better at the end of the match. In the Minnesota match, in the tight sets, she made the kills we needed her to. She is a tough kid."

Illinois put forth its second straight .270-plus hitting match, attacking at a .274 rate and totaling 49 kills, which are tied for the fourth-most by a team in a Big Ten match this year.

The first set saw 13 ties and six lead changes. Aside from a 3-0 early Illinois lead, neither team had an advantage of more than two points. The Illini scored the final six points of the set, the last five on the serve of Jackie Wolfe to pull away. The teams combined for eight attack errors while the Badgers committed three service errors. Ward had five kills in the set including two in the deciding rally. Haen also added a setter dump that helped the Illini pull away.

Wolfe's serve again was instrumental in two key rallies in set two. That set had 10 ties and two lead changes, but the Illini scored three straight, two off the Wolfe serve to go in front 11-8, then late in the set out-scored Wisconsin 8-4, two more of which came with Wolfe serving. Bartsch was nearly unstoppable in that set, amassing nine kills in 20 swings. Ward, meanwhile, had five kills in 15 swings while middle blocker Erin Johnson, was especially strong on the back slide, hitting 1.000 with four of her five kills on the night.

The Illini jumped to a 12-7 in set three as Orozco came up big, then Haen served four straight points to extend it to 22-15. However, after Wisconsin sided out, Annemarie Hickey served four straight points for Wisconsin forcing a pair of Illinois timeouts. Right side hitter Julie Mikaelsen (16 kills) was in on all five points in the rally with four kills and one block assist. Bartsch and middle blocker Johannah Bangert finally ended the rally with a block, but again Wisconsin scored two straight to tie it at 23-23.

Illinois had a strong defensive match with three players in double digits in digs, paced by a season-best 13 from junior defensive specialist Rachel Feldman and 12 from freshman libero Jennifer Bonilla. Bangert and Haen had three block assists apiece for the Illini.

Illinois maintains a two-match lead in the Big Ten, but now has to play five of its last seven on the road, starting with a huge match at 24th-ranked Northwestern on Friday night. Hambly says the Illini, who have gone through some line-up changes due to illness and injury, are still focusing on improving for late in the season.

"It is not just about winning matches, it is about how good can this team be," Hambly said. "That is why you hear (our players) saying, `we can do this better', `we can work harder at this' and that is where we are at as a staff. We are judging ourselves on what our potential is not where we are in just winning a set or a match. We grind them because we want to see how far we can go as a team."