Sept. 29, 2010

Final Stats

Madison, Wis. - Senior Laura DeBruler made history on Wednesday. The All-America outside hitter from Downers Grove, Ill. had 26 kills and 15 digs to lead No. 7 Illinois to a four-set win at Wisconsin and in the process passed former national player of the year Mary Eggers as the all-time career kills leader at Illinois. DeBruler now has 1,783 kills compared to 1,761 for Eggers. Her kill that put the Illini up 2-1 in the second set proved to be the record setter.

"I just feel really humbled," DeBruler said of the realization that her name is now atop that prestigious list. "I know the history of what (Eggers) has done for the program and feel honored that people are comparing me to her."

"For Laura to be put in the same breath as Mary Eggers is quite an honor for her, but deservedly so," Illinois head coach Kevin Hambly said. "She's such a hard-working kid. Tonight we don't win without her. She's had four years of doing it for us. When the team needs her most, she steps up and makes plays. She's as great a person as she is a player."

For Illinois (11-2, 3-0 in the Big Ten), who prevailed 19-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-21, it marked the third straight victory at Wisconsin Fieldhouse, traditionally a difficult place to win, but it wasn't the prettiest performance overall. Illinois hit just .170 on the night with an uncharacteristic 25 hitting errors. Wisconsin, meanwhile, hit just .107 with 31 hitting errors

"The good thing is we got a `W' on the road in tough place to play against a good Wisconsin team, but it was ugly," Hambly said. "I thought for about three-quarters of that fourth set, we finally started to play our style. The rest of the time I thought we were erratic."

"We dug in and said `We're going to win this match," according to DeBruler of Illinois' determination

After hitting just .043 in dropping that first set, the Illini turned the tables on a young Wisconsin squad to force 11 attack errors from the Badgers (11-3, 0-3 Big Ten) in easily winning the second set. Led by freshman outside hitter Elise Walch (15 kills), the Badgers took a 19-15 lead in the third set before the match turned in favor of the Illini.

DeBruler had three kills in a 6-2 run with junior Michelle Bartsch (13 kills) and junior Nicole Kump tallying one kill each as Illinois tied the set at 21-21. It was tied at 22 and 23 before the Illini pulled out the set. Senior middle blocker Johannah Bangert had a deep tip for the far corner to give the Illini a 24-23 lead before an aggressive serve by Hillary Haen (49 assists) led to a Wisconsin hitting error.

Illinois was finally able to put Wisconsin away with a strong fourth set, hitting .351 as a team. DeBruler had eight kills in the fourth set while Michelle Bartsch had five while hitting .500 and Kump three kills while hitting .750. Kump was playing in place of sophomore middle blocker Erin Johnson, who was out with an illness.

Illinois had 12 blocks on the night, including 5.5 in slowing the Badgers down in the third set. Bangert, the nation's blocks leader the past two seasons, was in on eight of those while Bartsch teamed up for seven. Freshman libero Jennifer Bonilla had her best match as an Illini defensively with 32 digs, which is tied for the sixth most digs in a match in school history.

Hambly summed it up by saying, "We just found a way to win tonight."

Illinois is next in action at Huff Hall on Saturday night against No. 25 Northwestern, who is off to its best start since 1987 at 13-1.