Touching all the Bases

It's the second half

Posted by: Jeff Huth

Monday, October 27, 2008 4:15 PM

We've reached the halfway point of the Big Ten volleyball race and Illinois is halfway home to returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2004.
If the regular season ended right now, clearly this Illini team would be in the field of 64. Don Hardin's bunch is ranked 17th, owns sole possession of third place in the Big Ten, and has legitimate reason to wonder whether it will rise from its current No. 8 spot when the NCAA releases an updated RPI on Tuesday.
Winners of sixth of their last seven matches - including a 3-0 record against ranked foes in that stretch -- the on-a-roll Illini are building a strong NCAA resume.
But, as we said earlier, there's this thing in their way called the Big Ten schedule. Ten more matches that stand in the way of a return to the postseason.
Here's a closer look:
Unlike some seasons, the Illini won't be dealing with a second-half league schedule heavy on road trips. The remaining 10 matches are equally split - five at Huff Hall and five at opponents' venues. However, three of those five road matches are against current Top 25 teams: No. 13 Minnesota, No. 20 Purdue and No. 25 Wisconsin. When Hardin's team hits the road, it figures to be challenging.
In contrast, the Illini's remaining home matches - with the exception of No. 1 Penn State - are against opponents they defeated in the first-half of the Big Ten's round-robin schedule. So far, Illinois is 3-2 at Huff Hall against Big Ten foes - a record tainted only by that unsightly upset loss to Northwestern on Oct. 17.
We can't be sure how the rest of the regular season will unfold. For a team heavily dependent on four sophomore starters and one freshman regular, stretch-run pressure is uncharted territory.
But we're guessing that if the Illini can avoid any further injuries (it would help to get Nicole Kump and Kayani Turner healed and back into the rotation, too), they'll at least remain in the upper division of the Big Ten.
And that should be more than enough to receive an NCAA tournament call.

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