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Women's Volleyball
Illini host Purdue on BTN Wednesday
Oct. 21, 2008
Champaign, Ill. - Complete Match Notes in PDF Format
ILLINOIS AT AT GLANCENo. 18 Purdue (16-4, 5-3) AT No. 19 Illinois (14-5, 5-3)Date and Time: Oct. 22, 7 pm, Huff Hall, Champaign, Ill. Television: Live on the Big Ten Network (Brent Stover and Elizabeth Moreau) Radio: WDWS and selected Illini Sports Network affiliates (Dave Loane) Series Notes: Illinois leads the all-time series 35-31. The Illini broke a seven-game losing streak vs. the Boilermakers with a sweep in West Lafayette last season. No. 19 Illinois (14-5, 5-3) at Michigan State (11-8, 3-5) Illinois plans "Orange Out" Illinois meets Purdue at 7 pm in a match televised nationally by the Big Ten Network. The Division of Intercollegiate Athletics is planning an "Orange Out" for that night encouraging all fans to dress from head to toe in orange. The first 200 people in the building dressed in orange will receive a free T-shirt and prizes will be given for the "best dressed." Win over Wisconsin another sign of the turnaround Illinois remains in third place after victory Sunday Edinger on verge of digs record With 25 digs vs. Northwestern Edinger moved past Lauren Harks into third on the all-time Illinois digs list and within striking distance of the record of 1,426 this year. She now has 1,367. She also had 35 digs vs Dayton, her sixth 30+digs match of her career. Edinger is on pace for 513 digs this year, which would give her three of the top four single-season digs seasons in school history. Illinois career digs list 1. Tracey Marshall 1,426 2. Mary Coleman 1,393 3. Ashley Edinger 1,367 4. Lauren Harks 1,346 5. Beth Vrdsky 1,166 6. Sandy Scholtens 1,133 7. Mary Eggers 1,092 8. Petra Laverman 1,003 9. Kathleen Bazzetta 974 10. Shadia Haddad 962Bazzetta moves up assists charts Lizzie Bazzetta began the season with 3,206 career assists -- 824 as a freshman, 1,241 as a sophomore, and 1,141 as a junior. With 369 assists so far this season, Bazzetta now needs 33 to move past Betsy Eiserman for fifth on the Illini career list and could become just the fourth Illinois player to top 4,000 for her career. Bangert moves up rankings Bangert and the record book Bangert named Big Ten co-Defensive Player of the Week Illinois up to 8th in the RPI
Illinois and the national rankings • Illinois continues to be one of six Big Ten teams in the national rankings. Defending national champion Penn State is first followed by Minnesota at no. 11, Purdue (18), Illinois (19), Michigan (20), Wisconsin (21). The Big Ten is second to the Pac 10, who boasts seven teams, including five of the top 10 teams in the rankings. • Big Ten teams were a combined 103-26 (.798) during the non-conference. This included eight victories over ranked opponents -- Penn State over no. 12 Hawaii and no. 6 UCLA; Minnesota over no. 21 LSU and no. 16 Cal Poly; Wisconsin over no. 23 BYU; Purdue over no. 14 Kansas State; and Illinois over no. 11 Oregon and no. 23 New Mexico State. • In addition to the five other Big Ten teams in the national ranking, three other Illinois opponents are ranked -- no. 5 Stanford, no. 7 Oregon and no. 25 Saint Louis. New Mexico State is also receiving votes. Illini block sets tone To put the block surge in perspective, last season Illinois ranked 10th in the Big Ten last year at 2.23 blocks per, set keeping in mind that last year the teams played to 30 instead of 25. 2008 NCAA Division I Block Leaders Name Blocks Average 1 Anna Breyfogle, Baylor 110 1.64 2 Johannah Bangert, Illinois 116 1.61 3 Emily Underwood, Memphis 143 1.59 4 Danielle Hepburn, Clemson 110 1.55 5 Christa Harmotto, Penn St. 88 1.54 6 Lori Baird, Utah 98 1.53 7 Ashley Benson, Indiana 111 1.52 8 Ashten Stelken, UNI 105 1.50 9 Lauren Gibbemeyer, Minnesota 106 1.49 10 Foluke Akinradewo, Stanford 88 1.49DeBruler chases 1,000 kills With the team's success this season, sophomore Laura DeBruler has emerged as a potential All-American candidate. DeBruler had 31 kills in a five-set victory over no. 11 Oregon and 24 in a hard-fought victory at Illinois State. At 4.47 kills per set, DeBruler ranks second in the Big Ten and 11th nationally in that category. DeBruler now has 899 kills for her young career with a good chance to surpass the 1,000-mark this season. Illinois' all-time kills leader, Mary Eggers, had 906 in her first two seasons. Erin Borske holds the Illini record for kills in her two seasons with 1,192, but played just two years. Last year, DeBruler led all freshmen nationally, while ranking 22nd overall in kills per set in 2007. 2008 NCAA Division I Kills Leaders Name Blocks Average 1 Yarimar Rosa, Florida Int'l 415 5.39 2 Mackenzie Angner, SDSU 325 5.00 3 Jeanne Fairchild, New Mexico 297 4.79 4 Erica Short, Indiana 349 4.78 5 Angie Porché, Valparaiso 354 4.72 6 Meagan Schoenrock, NIU 352 4.69 7 Yun Yi Zhang, Temple 398 4.68 8 Marcela Gurgel, South Fla. 362 4.58 9 Hana Cutura, California 259 4.54 10 Emily Day, Loyola Marymount 275 4.51 11 Laura DeBruler, Illinois 322 4.47Laura DeBruler making history Laura DeBruler is the only player to rank in the top 10 in the Big Ten in both kills and digs, ranking second in kills per set (4.41) and 9th in digs (3.22). DeBruler posted the first 20-20 performance by an Illini in six years with 24 kills on a career-high 80 swings to go along with 22 digs. The last Illinois player to accomplish that was Sue Webber, who had 22 kills and 26 digs vs. Minnesota on Oct. 12, 2002. DeBruler followed that with 21 kills and 15 digs in a four-set victory over Iowa and 26 kills and 16 digs vs. Northwestern DeBruler now has eight 20-kill matches this season, including a 31-kill performance vs. no. 11 Oregon. That gives her 24 20-kill matches for her career, which moves her to third place on the Illini's all-time list. Illinois career 20-kill matches 1. Rachel VanMeter (`01-'05) 29 2. Erin Borske (`94-'95) 28 3. Laura DeBruler (2007-08) 24 4. Tracey Marshall (`96-'99) 19 5. Mary Coleman (`95-'98) 18 6. Shadia Haddad (`98-'01) 16 7. Bridget Boyle (`86-'89) 13 Nancy Brookhart (`86-'89) 13 9. Betsy Spicer (`97-2000) 11 Petra Laverman (`88-'90) 11Haen playing front row in two-setter system Illinois utilized a two-setter system during this spring and did so with great success. Although the Illini opened the season using both Hillary Haen and Lizzie Bazzetta in the back row in a 6-2 system, injuries to right side hitters Nicole Kump and Kayani Turner have meant Haen seeing time in the front row as well. This has not caused a huge challenge for the Illini as this is also one of the line-ups that was used regularly during the spring,. That gives Illinois two setters in the match at the same time on three of the six rotations. Haen has played in the front row the past six matches and is hitting .300 with 10 block ssists during that time. Nelson picking up steam Illini comeback thwarts Ducks; Illini win State Farm Illini Classic The victory over Oregon was especially significant. The Ducks dominated Illinois in the first two sets, winning 25-14, 15-26, Illinois rallied from way down to win the last three sets 26-24, 25-21, 15-13. The Illini were down 16-9 and 19-14 in the fourth set. • Oregon hit .462 and .444, respectively, in the first two sets, while the Illini tallied no blocks and hit just .072 combined. • Illinois out-blocked the Ducks 12-5.5 in the final three sets • Illinois won its 18th Illini Classic in the 25 years of the event Illinois posts impressive win over SLU, play competitively vs. no. 3 Stanford Illinois' tough schedule continued at the Billiken Invitational. After dropping the first set against undefeated Saint Louis, the Illini rallied for a 21-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-18 victory. The next day vs. no. 3 Stanford, the Illini were soundly defeated in set one, 25-15, but were competitive in the final two sets, dropping them 25-22, 25-22. The Illini had leads of 16-14 and 20-18 vs. Stanford in set two. The Illini also defeated William & Mary 25-23, 25-20, 25-13. Kylie McCulley led the Illini with 17 kills vs. the Tribe. DeBruler earns national, conference Player of the Week honors The honors rolled in all week for DeBruler who not only earned her third Big Ten Player of the Week honor in her young career, but also was named AVCA and CVU.com National Player of the Week. DeBruler becomes the first Illinois player to earn the award since Jessica Belter on Oct. 20, 2003. DeBruler averaged 5.4 kills per set to lead Illinois to the tournament's title. The sophomore recorded a double-double in each match with 14 kills and 15 digs against the Tar Heels, 20 kills and 11 digs vs. the Aggies and 31 kills and 12 saves against the Ducks. Against Oregon, DeBruler led the Illini back from a two-set deficit, putting down 22 of her 31 kills in the final three stanzas. In set 4, she recorded nine kills, including six of the final nine Illinois points to key the rally that saw the Illini score 11 of the final 13 points in the set. On the weekend DeBruler totaled 65 kills on a .302 hitting percentage with 38 total digs (3.2 dps) and 11 total blocks (0.9 dps). Turner makes miraculous comeback A knee injury kept Turner out of action during her freshman campaign, then she missed the final six matches in 2005 with a stress fracture. It was out of that injury that Turner developed a condition called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, which essentially sends the same pain signal through the nerves as if the fracture still existed. The condition first surfaced during the spring of 2006, but she felt fine to start the fall season and was named MVP of two tournaments. Turner ranked 15th nationally in kills per game through Oct. 15, but the pain was too much toward the end of the year that she saw limited to no time from there on out. During one weekend in October, it was determined that Turner would only play in one of the two matches that weekend. She had 19 kills and hit .459 in an upset of no. 16 Ohio State. Turner missed all of the 2007 season and it appeared her career might be over. Determined not to have any regrets, Turner decided to give it one last shot and she played well Illinois' overseas trip and joins freshman Michelle Bartsch and sophomore Nicole Kump in the rotation at the right side this season. Illinois completes successful European Trip Bartsch starts for U.S. Junior National Team Bartsch had nine kills, two blocks and an ace while hitting .818 in the gold medal match and was also selected as the best server for the tournament. The native of Maryville, Ill., and graduate of Collinsville High School started at middle blocker in all six matches for the United States team. The Americans placed second to the Dominican Republic in pool A, but stormed back through medal round to win three straight and claim the gold, defeating Dominica in the final, 25-21, 25-20, 25-18. In the gold medal match, Bartsch served six straight points in the first set, including an ace to turn a three-point deficit into a three-point advantage for the U.S. She also key two rallies with a pair of kills as the American's pulled out the game two victory. The road to the championship match included a three-set victory over Mexico (25-18, 25-17, 25-21) and a four-set win over Cuba (23-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-19). Bartsch led the Americans in points against both Mexico and Cuba with 12 and 10, respectively.
DeBruler named Pre-Season All-Big Ten DeBruler led all freshmen in Division I in kills while ranking first in the Big Ten and 22nd overall nationally with 4.89 kills per game in 2007. The graduate of Downers Grove (Ill.) North High School had 28 kills in her Illinois debut vs. Bowling Green, the only player even to reach double figures in her first match as an Illini. DeBruler finished the season with 577 kills, the third most by any player in Illinois history. She tallied 15 matches with at least 20 kills, tied for second most in a season in school history. DeBruler ranked second on the Illinois team with 285 digs while being named to three All-Tournament teams in 2007.
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