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Edinger named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week
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Ashley Edinger is on the verge of breaking Illinois' all-time digs record.
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Oct. 27, 2008
Champaign, Ill. - Illinois junior libero Ashley Edinger has been named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. Edinger moved to within 28 digs of the Illinois school record in helping lead the Illini to victories over no. 18 Purdue and Michigan State. The wins kept Illinois in third place in the conference and closed out the best first half of the conference season for the Illini since 2003.
Edinger averaged 5.2 digs per set with 15 digs against Purdue and 16 vs. Michigan State. She also made just one reception error in 43 total chances. Edinger now has 1,398 digs for her career in sight of Tracey Marshall's Illinois career record of 1,426. She ranks third in the Big Ten at 4.49 digs per set and has totaled a .968 serve reception percentage, 61 assists and 12 aces for the year.
Edinger is also moving up the all-time Big Ten list for digs, needing just 166 to crack the top ten. At this pace, Edinger would have 2,105 digs for her career, which would be fourth on the all-time Big Ten list. She has two of the top three-all-time single-season digs seasons in Illinois history, including a record 564 last season. She also has six of the top 10 single-match digs marks ever by an Illini.
The Illini improved to 16-5 overall and 7-3 in the Big Ten with three three-match sweeps last week. Illinois moves up a couple of spots to sixth in the RPI behind only Stanford, Nebraska, Penn State, Texas and Minnesota and is ranked 17th in the latest AVCA/CBS Sports Network coaches' poll.
