Jeff Huth's Illini Insider

To vote in our daily poll, click here.

WEEKEND WATCH

Three Illini events to keep an eye on this weekend:

VOLLEYBALL

6:30 p.m. Friday vs. Minnesota

Definitely no lack of buzz about this match. Not with the Illini moving for one night from Huff Hall to the 16,618-seat Assembly Hall as the opening act for the annual Illini Madness basketball event (see story, C-1). But even without the "Spike the Record" promotion and Illini Madness fanfare, this match would stand tall on its own merits. It's a matchup of two Top 10 teams with legitimate designs on deep runs in the NCAA tournament. Although No. 10 Illinois leads the all-time series 35-26-1, the No. 6 Gophers have dominated lately, winning nine of the last 10. In fact, Minnesota hasn't lost in Champaign since 2003. If Illinois wins, it would be the Gophers' first defeat in seven matches this season on an opponent's court. Yes, the Assembly Hall isn't the Illini's usual home court. But if anywhere close to 16,618 show up, is there any debating Illinois would have an imposing homecourt advantage?

MEN'S, WOMEN'S CROSS-COUNTRY

Pre-Nationals, Terre Haute, Ind.

If the NCAA never moves its Division I cross-country championship from Indiana State's campus, that's fine with Illini women's coach Jeremy Rasmussen. "For us, it's a great convenience to have such a great course so close to us," he said. "When I was at Arizona State, it was a huge pain to travel to Indiana State. Now I love it." For multiple reasons. Being less than a two-hour drive from Terre Haute not only offers the Illini men's and No. 18 women's teams an easy trek to nationals but also to this annual preview meet that's become a fixture on their schedules. Both UI squads will be joined Saturday at Pre-Nationals by many of the nation's top teams. In fact, this is such a popular event that the fields for the men's and women's meets are divided into two races to accommodate the 500-plus runners in each meet. According to Indiana State's Web site, 72 men's teams and 75 women's teams are entered this year. "For us, I don't know if it's necessarily running on the course that hosts nationals (that's the primary attraction) as much anymore," Rasmussen said, "just because it's been there so many times and we've run on it so many times. But it's important because the competition that you ... see really gets us ready for the Big Ten Championships."

MEN'S TENNIS

ITA Midwest Regionals, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Brad Dancer's Illini hope they're in for a long stay on the Michigan campus, starting with today's opening matches. Keep winning and UI singles and doubles players could compete for regional titles Monday. This will be Illinois' second tournament of the fall, following the Fighting Illini/Olympia Fields Invitational last month in suburban Chicago. All four Illini – Dennis Nevolo, Marek Czerwinski, Connor Roth and Abe Souza – are 3-1 in singles. Illinois has yet to lose a doubles match, with the tandem of Nevolo/Czerwinski going 3-0 and Roth/Souza 2-0.

ILLINI OF THE WEEK

Johannah Bangert, Volleyball

It had been 18 years since Kellie Hebeisen set the Illini single-match record for block assists. Bangert finally gave her some company atop the all-time charts, matching Hebeisen's 1991 performance Friday in a five-set victory against Purdue. The double-figure assist total was the fourth of the junior middle blocker's college career and the highest single-match figure (solo blocks and assists combined) in the Big Ten this season. One night later, Bangert racked up six more block assists against Indiana, giving her an average of 2.4 per set for the weekend. The Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week entered the week first in the conference and No. 7 nationally in blocks per set (1.52). Bangert also made an impact on offense, hitting a career-high .800 (eight kills, 10 attempts, no errors) against Purdue. She had 14 kills and hit .440.

NEWS & VIEWS

An Olympic view

In the leadup to the announcement early this month of the 2016 Olympics host site, there was speculation whether the UI campus might play a role if Chicago was picked. With the UI's multiple athletic facilities and relative proximity to the Windy City, it was suggested the campus might serve as a pre-Olympics training center in some sports. Illini women's track and field coach Tonja Buford-Bailey would have welcomed that opportunity. "That would have been wonderful," she said. But Buford-Bailey also was skeptical, primarily because the UI's distance from Chicago is far greater than anything she experienced as a three-time Olympian. "They possibly could have done maybe a training center here, but that would have been pretty far from (Chicago) so I don't know about that," she said. "Every other Olympics I've been to, I think the farthest away (for a training site) was probably 30 minutes. My guess would be that (training in Champaign-Urbana) probably would have been one of the downsides (for Chicago's bid) if the other cities had venues that were closer." As it turned out, the C-U speculation was moot. Chicago was the first of the four finalists rejected by the International Olympic Committee voters.

Tennis commitment

The Illini men's tennis team received an oral commitment from Brian Alden of Inverness, according to TennisRecruiting.net. The Inverness native is scheduled to enroll at the UI in January, the Web site reported. The 17-year-old Alden attended Chicago St. Viator before enrolling in the Laurel Springs Online School in a bid to graduate early. TennisRecruiting.net rates the 6-foot-5 Alden as a five-star recruit and ranks him 59th nationally among Class of 2010 players. According to the Web site, he selected Illinois over Penn State and Virginia Tech. Alden told TennisRecruiting.net the UI's recent history of grooming future tennis pros loomed large in his choice of schools. "That had a huge impact on my decision because I hope to someday maybe play professional tennis," he said. "I think going to Illinois will help me a lot."

EDDLEMAN AWARD WATCH LIST

Each week, we'll rank our top three candidates for the 2009-10 Dike Eddleman Award, which annually goes to the top male and female athletes at the University of Illinois:

MALE

1. Tavon Wilson, football. Sophomore's 13 tackles vs. Michigan State tied Illini season high.

2. Scott Langley, golf. Six of junior's nine rounds this fall matched par or better.

3. Dennis Nevolo, tennis. Sophomore vying for UI's first ITA Midwest Regionals singles title since 2004.

FEMALE

1. Laura DeBruler, volleyball. Junior raised UI mark for career 20-kill matches to 31 vs. Purdue.

2. Johannah Bangert, volleyball. Junior entered Wednesday's match five blocks short of 400 for career.

3. Lauren Wismer, diving. Freshman won two events, broke UI mark for 3-meter in UI debut.

THE  LIST

Johannah Bangert  tied the Illini volleyball single-match record for block assists last weekend. The all-time top five:

PLAYER TOTAL OPPONENT DATE

Johannah Bangert 13 Purdue Oct. 9, 2009

Kellie Hebeisen 13 Georgia Sept. 14, 1991

Johannah Bangert 12 New Mexico State Aug. 30, 2008

Shelly O'Bryan 12 Indiana Nov. 30, 2002

Paula Prentice 12 Wisconsin Oct. 4, 1996

Comments

Add a Comment