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Staff writer Jeff Huth's review and preview of all things Illinois

One to watch

VOLLEYBALL

7 p.m. Saturday vs. Michigan State

At Huff Hall

It's the regular season home finale for the No. 16 Illini, which also means it's Senior Night. Coach Don Hardin's program will publicly recognize Lizzie Bazzetta, Kayani Turner and Kristine Anderson before what could be the veterans' final match at Huff Hall. (Or not; look for the Illini to be in the mix for hosting NCAA tournament first- and second-round matches).

Bazzetta has been Illinois' starting setter or co-setter since early October of her freshman season. Entering Wednesday night's match at Purdue (a 3-1 Illini victory), she ranked fourth on the UI career assists chart with 3,723 and needed one service ace to reach 100 for her career. After playing on three Illini teams that were a combined 21-39 in the Big Ten, Bazzetta is bowing out with an NCAA tournament-bound, nationally ranked squad.

"Lizzie has impacted our team in so many different ways," Hardin said. "She was thrust into a leadership role early in her time here and has seen us through a very challenging period ... and it's wonderful for her to be enjoying a good senior year. Her leadership has really evolved into something special this year."

Turner is a fifth-year senior whose promising career too often was interrupted by injuries. The Maryland native was sidelined her entire freshman season by a knee injury. As a redshirt freshman, Turner missed the final six matches with a stress fracture in her left tibia. And she did not play at all last year due to a nerve disorder – Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy – that has caused leg pain and continues to limit her training and playing time.

When healthy and pain-free, Turner proved to be a force. In 2005, the outside hitter ranked second on the team in kills per set (2.56) and tied for third in block assists (48). The next season, before Turner began to feel the effects of RSD, she ranked 16th nationally in kills per set in mid- October. She still ended up leading the Illini in kills (391) despite missing three matches and appearing in 87 of a possible 104 sets.

Hardin said it speaks to Turner's character and resolve that she refused to give up on her career this season.

"She had every possible open door to slide on out and transition in another direction," he said. "And she was encouraged to do so from our medical staff. The challenges, emotionally and physically, were things that doctors warned her about and (that) maybe she should move along. She did a lot of self inventory and decided she couldn't rest without giving this effort."

Anderson, a Clinton native and former Parkland College standout, also saw her Illini career disrupted by injury. The defensive specialist's sophomore and junior seasons each were cut short by knee ligament tears. Like Turner, Anderson decided to return for her senior season despite knowing it likely would be in a limited role.

"She's given herself unselfishly to the team over the last couple years," Hardin said. "Who knows how good she would have been had she not had the two knee surgeries."

Illini of the Week

Alexandra Kapicka

Soccer

The Illini are bound for the NCAA Sweet 16, and their first-year starter at goalkeeper might be the biggest single reason they've made it this far.

In a pair of mega-defensive struggles during the first two rounds of the tournament last weekend, Kapicka turned aside 14 shots on goal during 212 minutes, 18 seconds of pressure-packed work.

"She came up big when we needed her to," UI coach Janet Rayfield said.

In the opening round, Kapicka notched her ninth shutout of the season in a 1-0 double-overtime victory against Memphis. Two days later, she repeatedly fended off host Missouri in another marathon match that was decided by penalty kicks. After a 1-1 stalemate in regulation remained that way through two overtimes, Kapicka outdueled Tigers goalkeeper Tasha Dittamore in the best-of-five penalty-kick round. Illinois won that showdown 4-3, when Kapicka slid to her left and kicked aside Missouri's final penalty-kick attempt.

The Arlington Heights native finished with a career-high 11 saves against the Tigers.

"I think especially on Sunday, once they scored the (tying) goal, Missouri really turned up the pressure and had a lot of chances in our box, a lot of corner kicks, to win," Rayfield said. "Alex did a great job of keeping the ball out of the net and organizing things (on defense).

"To come up with the save on the (final) penalty kick was just the exclamation point."

That type of poise under pressure is what Rayfield has come to expect from her goalkeeper.

"She doesn't get rattled too easily," the UI coach said. "She has an even temperament, whether things are going well or not so well. That definitely was important Sunday in a game that had some big momentum swings, and she was able to be pretty stable."

Entering Saturday's Round of 16 match at No. 4 North Carolina, Kapicka has permitted one goal in her last 503 minutes. Her goals-against average of 0.71 ranks second in the Big Ten.

Two of a kind

Two teams have finished among the top 10 at the NCAA women's cross-country meet each of the last three years. One is three-time defending national champion Stanford. The other? They wear Orange and Blue.

The No. 14 Illini will try to extend that streak Monday at Terre Haute, Ind., in their fifth straight NCAA Championships appearance. Illinois finished sixth in 2007 and eighth and fifth the previous two years.

"We want to be a top-10 team," UI coach Jeremy Rasmussen said, "and we've talked about that all year long. That's something we want to continue to have."

Illinois is coming off a second-place finish in the NCAA Midwest Regional, where all five of the team's scorers were 24th or higher. Junior Angela Bizzarri finished second at regionals for the third straight year, and senior Katie Engel was ninth.

"Being able to be the runner-up each year is quite a feat," Rasmussen said of Bizzarri. "She didn't win, but our focus ... (was) to get to the next round with the least amount of effort. We really want to make sure we're geared up for Monday."

Perhaps the most pleasant development for Illinois at regionals was the performance of Chantelle Groenewoud. The sophomore was the UI's No. 3 finisher and placed 15th overall. Before Saturday, Groenewoud had not been higher than the No. 4 Illini finisher this season.

After she was the No. 5 Illinois finisher at the Big Ten Championships, Rasmussen encouraged Groenewoud to focus on her own race rather than trying to keep pace with selected teammates.

"And it seemed to work," the UI coach said. "Chantelle is the type of individual that can continue to make some pretty good strides. This last Saturday was one of those, and hopefully it will carry over."

The women's 6-kilometer race is scheduled for 11:08 a.m. and will be shown live on the CBS College Sports Network.

Still on board

Attentive readers of The News-Gazette might have wondered why Scott Sommerfeld's name was missing when the Illini baseball team announced its recruiting class last week. Was the Missouri Class 4A all-stater lured away by another school? Did he have second thoughts about his oral commitment to the Illini?

Not at all.

"I'm totally 100 percent," Sommerfeld said this week when asked if he still was coming to the UI. "I can't wait to go."

Turns out the Parkway South High School outfielder agreed to join Illinois as a recruited walk-on with the opportunity to receive scholarship aid after his freshman season. Sommerfeld said he has met academic requirements, including the ACT, and expects to receive word by mid-December that he's been accepted by the UI admissions office.

Delay of game

Those persistent wildfires in southern California cast a smoky pall over a former Illini soccer coach and her team last weekend.

Poor air quality forced postponement of Sunday's second-round NCAA tournament match between top-seeded UCLA – coached by Jillian Ellis – and visiting San Diego. The match was delayed until Monday, when the second-ranked Bruins prevailed 1-0 to advance to the Sweet 16.

In an e-mail to The News-Gazette, Ellis indicated the UCLA campus was not in any danger last weekend and the postponement was strictly precautionary.

"The fires were not near us and we have dealt with air-quality issues before with the fires in the past," wrote Ellis, who started the UI program in 1997 and coached the first two Illini teams. "It is an unfortunate time of year with the Santa Ana winds and we were just being precautionary with air quality."

Hurricane(s) watch

All three past and present Illini soccer coaches guided their teams into the NCAA tournament this year. While Ellis' top-seeded Bruins (20-0-2) are making their 11th consecutive appearance and Rayfield's Illini their sixth straight trip, Tricia Taliaferro had her Miami Hurricanes in the tournament for the second year in a row.

Taliaferro, who coached the Illini from 1999 to 2001, is in her seventh season at Miami. The Hurricanes bolted to a 7-0 start this year before injuries hit and they struggled through a 0-6-2 stretch. But Miami managed to recover, going 3-2-1 in its final six regular season matches, with both losses to North Carolina.

"This is a big moment for our program," Taliaferro said after Miami was awarded an at-large bid. "For us to receive back-to-back invitations to the tournament means that we are building a solid foundation here at Miami."

The Hurricanes lost 3-1 in the first round to Central Florida to finish 10-9-3. The 10 wins were the most during Taliaferro's seven-year tenure at Miami.

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