Indiana University Athletics
INDIANA LOSES HEARTBREAKER TO ILLINOIS
11/10/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
INDIANA LOSES HEARTBREAKER TO ILLINOIS
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Playing its first rally-scored match of the season, Indiana's volleyball team dropped a heartbreaker to Illinois 15-9, 11-15, 15-3, 10-15, 15-13 Wednesday evening at University Gym.
With the loss the Hoosiers drop to 15-9 overall, 6-9 in the Big Ten while the Fighting Illini improve to 13-8 overall, 9-6 in the league.
"What a tough loss," said Katie Weismiller. "Illinois is a good team but we are every bit as good. This loss is truly a heartbreaker. We got to a point in game four where we stopped being aggressive and that is what hurt us. That was the difference in the match.
The difference in the match that Weismiller alluded to in her post-game press conference was game four when the Hoosiers saw a 9-4 lead evaporate into a 9-9 tie. Indiana came back to tie the match at 10-all but that was as close as they would get as unforced errors on IU's behalf allowed the Fighting Illini to roll off the next five points for the 15-10 win.
Game five stayed close throughout with ties at 3-all, 4-all, 6-all, 8-all, 10-all, 11-all, 12-all and 13-all. A kill and a block by the Illini were enough to give them the 15-13 match win.
Four Hoosiers recorded double kill figures, led by senior Ryann Connors with 20. Sophomore Jill Mudge collected a career-high 18 kills while teammate Hillary Toivonen also posted 18 kills. Junior Amanda Welter added 13 kills and a career-high seven block assists while freshman setter Laurie Gardner set a career-best with 72 assists.
As a team, IU hit .212 compared to Illinois' .174 hitting efficiency. Indiana also had 82 kills to its opponents 79 and 76 digs to UI's 73.
"Statistically we out played them," Weismiller continued. "It's difficult going away with a loss after that. this match meant so much to us. There really is no room for error at this point in the season."
The Hoosiers return to action Friday, Nov. 12, when they host Northwestern
at 7 p.m., in University Gym.
