Nov. 5, 2010

Evanston, Ill. - Illinois' seven-match winning streak came to a halt Friday night in Evanston as No. 24 Northwestern downed the sixth-ranked Illini 25-22, 25-23, 25-20 in front of 1,633 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Illinois maintains a one-and-half match lead for first place in the Big Ten with a 12-2 conference record and drop to 20-4 overall. Northwestern improves to 7-6 in the conference, in a tie for fifth, and 17-7 overall.

Illinois fell victim to a strong Northwestern offensive attack while struggling in the serve-pass game. The Wildcats committed just five hitting errors, none in the final two sets, in hitting .375 for the night. That included hitting .421 in the second set and .481 in the third set.

Northwestern middle hitter Naomi Johnson and Sabel Moffett led the way. Johnson hit .667 with a team-high 14 kills while Moffett hit .545 with 12 kills. Neither middle committed a hitting error.

Illinois head coach Kevin Hambly said the difference in the match was simple.

"They were really good and we weren't," he said. "We lost the serve pass battle and when you do that you're not going to win. Then their middles got hot. We couldn't touch them."

Earlier this season, Illinois defeated Northwestern in five sets in a defensive struggle where the teams combined for 30 blocks, including 16 by Illinois. Friday night, the Illini managed just four blocks, all of which came in the opening set. Northwestern, meanwhile, turned their block up just when it counted. In the third set, Illinois scored four straight points to cut a five-point deficit down to just one at 16-15, then the Wildcats scored five straight points, three on blocks, to all but put the match away.

"This was not a defensive match at all," Hambly said. "It was all offense, the exact opposite of what it was at our place. We needed a pass to have great offense tonight and it didn't happen."

Colleen Ward did her best to keep Illinois close, hitting .342 with a match-high 16 kills. Ward hit .438 with seven kills in the second set, while Michelle Bartsch had six of her 12 kills in set two. The Illini looked as if they were going to pull out that set, leading 14-9, before Northwestern scored seven of the next eight points to go in front 16-15. Trailing 17-16, Illinois again pulled in front after kills from Jazmine Orozco and two more by Ward to lift the Illini to a 19-17 advantage. Northwestern scored seven of the final 10 points of the set, however, to pull it out.

Illinois's middles also hit for high efficiency. Middle blocker Erin Johnson was good on her first four attacks and finished the night with seven kills and a .308 attack percentage while Johannah Bangert hit .364 with four kills.

"Ward was really good tonight and our middles were really good tonight, but we didn't pass well enough to use them," Hambly said.

Illinois takes the rest of the weekend off before preparing next week for matches at Ohio State and second-place Penn State.

Despite the loss, Hambly was quit to put it in perspective. "It's only our fourth loss, so we're not freaking out right now," he said. "Take nothing away from Northwestern, they played great. If we serve and pass better, they still may beat us. They were better than us tonight."