Northwestern
Illinois
Women's Volleyball Drops Thriller to Illinois, 3-2
10/21/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 20, 2000
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The Northwestern Wildcat volleyball team dropped its seventh Big Ten match of the season after falling to Illinois in a thrilling five-setter Friday night, 3-2.
NU falls to 4-15 on the season and 1-8 in the conference. The Illini improve to 11-9 overall and 2-7 in the Big Ten.
The `Cats opened Game 1 with a 2-0 lead before Illinois scored its first point of the match. The Illini would tie the score eight times, but never took the lead as the Wildcats rolled to a 15-11 win behind the Wildcat blockers.
The Illini answered the call in Game 2, scoring the first two points and never looking back. NU would score its only points of the game on an Illinois net violation and a kill by Erika Lange (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg). Illinois dominated the game, hitting at a .500 clip to NU's .059.
NU rallied after the intermission to take Game 3, 15-10. Illinois scored the first five points of the match before NU got on the board from an Illini hitting error. Carmen Burbach (Columbus, Neb./Scotus Central Catholic) recorded a kill to make the score 5-2. The two teams battled back and forth before the Wildcats tied it at seven apiece on a Lindsay Pavlik (Laguna Beach, Calif./Mater Dei) kill. The `Cats then scored the next three points to take a 10-7 lead. The Illini got as close as 11-10, before NU took the remaining four points to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Illinois opened Game 4 with a 3-0 run, and led by as many as nine before the Wildcats rallied to score. The Wildcats scored on a Burbach kill and a pair of blocks. Down, 11-3, the `Cats rallied to score three more points, but the Fighting Illini held the `Cats off to win 15-6 and force a fifth game.
Illinois scored six quick points to open Game 5. NU tried to gain back the momentum but could, as Illinois controlled the remainder of the game, winning 15-9 for the match.
Burbach led the Wildcats with 14 kills, 10 digs and five block assists. With her second dig of the match, Burbach reached the 1,000 career dig milestone and joined the elite 1,000-1,000 club. Lange recorded 13 kills and eight block assists on the night. Kelli Meyer (Madison, Wis./Edgewood) had 44 assists and 10 digs. As a team, the `Cats hit .160 on the night to Illinois' .253. NU outblocked the Illini 18.5 to 11.0.
Betsy Spicer led the Illini with 17 kills.
Northwestern is back in action on Saturday at Purdue. The match will be broadcast on a tape-delayed basis by FOX Sports Chicago on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. (CDT).
