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ONE TO WATCH

VOLLEYBALL

NCAA Tournament Selection Show, 9 p.m. Sunday, ESPNU

With no Illinois events on campus this week, we're recommending a seat in front of the TV on Sunday night (and a cable or satellite package that actually carries ESPNU). That's when Don Hardin's No. 15 Illini will learn where and when they'll open the NCAA tournament as well as their first-round opponent.

We can say with absolute confidence that Illinois is in the tournament for the first time since 2004. With two matches remaining in the regular season, the Illini have ironclad credentials for inclusion in the 64-team field: a 22-7 record; a 13-5 Big Ten mark; a No. 6 ranking in the latest NCAA Rating Percentage Index; and a 7-5 record against ranked opponents.

There's a strong possibility, too, that Illinois will be included among the top 16 seeds, meaning it would not face a seeded opponent any earlier than the third round.

Less certain is whether the Illini will be selected to host first- and second-round matches. However, Illinois seemingly took a strong step in that direction when it won last week at Purdue, completing a two-match season sweep of the Boilermakers. Since the two teams have such similar rankings and RPIs, that sweep should give the Illini an edge on perhaps their strongest rival for hosting rights in this region.

ILLINI OF THE WEEK

Angela Bizzarri, Cross-country

This junior was already the only two-time All-American in Illini women's cross-country history. Now, Bizzarri has a chance to earn that honor every year of her college career.

But the Mason, Ohio, native did so much more than add another All-America entry to her impressive running resume Monday at the NCAA Championships. Bizzarri also ran the fastest 6-kilometer time in UI women's history and matched the highest-ever finish – sixth – by an Illini at the national meet.

"It's kind of crazy. I wasn't exactly expecting it," Bizzarri said of her historic feats at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross-Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind. "I knew I felt good, but I didn't know how I would finish out the season."

Those doubts were planted by the effects of a chest cold that had disrupted her training in the middle of the season.

"It set me back more than it usually does," Bizzarri said. "A lot of coughing and everything that goes with it."

Although Bizzarri had felt better in recent weeks, she continued to question her level of fitness. Continued to wonder whether it would hamper her readiness for the NCAA Championships.

But on the day of the most important race of the season, Bizzarri said, she felt like her old self.

"It was definitely a good time to feel really in shape and running strong," Bizzarri said. "I definitely felt a lot more effortless than I have the last month. I felt really smooth."

It showed. Bizzarri broke her own school record for a 6-kilometer race, finishing in 19 minutes, 59.1 seconds. Her previous mark of 19:59.8 was set at the 2007 Big Ten Championships in Columbus, Ohio. Although the difference in time was small, Bizzarri regards her latest record as a big leap because it was set on a more challenging course.

"I was really happy to run that (time) because it's really a fair course," she said. "When I ran the other time, it was on a little faster course. This really wasn't a fast course."

Only five runners ran faster times on this day than Bizzarri, who tied Marianne Dickerson for the highest NCAA finish in Illinois history. Dickerson placed sixth in 1981.

In the process, Bizzarri continued her career climb up the NCAA ladder. As a freshman, she placed 24th. As a sophomore, 14th. On Monday, Bizzarri took eight more steps up that ladder.

"It's really great to improve from last season because at the beginning of the season that's my goal," she said. "My goal is to run fast at nationals."

LONG WAIT ENDS

Lizzie Bazzetta has been through the lean times of Illini volleyball. Just in time, the Illini senior setter is completing her career in the best of circumstances.

"I think, as we finish off this year, we're just getting better and better," Bazzetta said Saturday after Illinois defeated Michigan State in five sets at Huff Hall.

A starter since early in her freshman season, Bazzetta never had played on an Illini team with a winning Big Ten record before 2008. In her first three years, Illinois was a cumulative 21-39 against conference opponents.

This year, the Illini are 13-5 in the Big Ten and in third place entering the final weekend of the regular season. At 22-7 overall, Illinois has more wins than all but one Illini team in the last 10 years.

For Bazzetta and fellow Illini seniors Kayani Turner and Kristine Anderson, it all adds up to an expected first trip to the NCAA tournament next month.

Will it also add up to another match or two at Huff Hall? Bazzetta hopes so, saying after the Senior Night ceremony on Saturday that she didn't want the regular season home finale against Michigan State to also be her last match ever on the court.

"We would love to play here for the first round of the tournament," Bazzetta said. "That would be an awesome advantage. Of course, there's no place like playing at home, and I wouldn't want this to be my last one."

However, the Naperville native also is braced for that possibility and content with the knowledge that her careerlong postseason drought is about to end.

"It's in other people's hands," Bazzetta said, referring to the NCAA selection committee. "But regardless, our season's extended. So it doesn't matter to me where we're playing as long as we're still playing."

ANOTHER FINAL FOUR?

Former Illini soccer coach Jillian Ellis is within one victory of her sixth straight appearance in the College Cup, the sport's version of the Final Four. The ninth-year UCLA coach and her Bruins (21-0-2) will host Duke (15-5-3) at 5 p.m. Saturday in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.

To get this far, the No. 2 Bruins had to get past archrival Southern Cal (16-5-2) last weekend in the Round of 16. UCLA barely did so, prevailing 1-0 on the strength of its school-record 19th shutout of the season.

"It's just sweet to go to the quarterfinals," Ellis was quoted on the school's Web site. "We knew we had the toughest third-round match in the country. USC is a very good team. It's a big win for us.

"We're just thrilled to be moving on."

The Bruins' defense continues to be the stingiest in the nation, allowing four goals in 23 matches for a 0.17 goals-against average. Each of UCLA's last two tournament victories has been by 1-0 scores.

SHAW'S STOCK RISES

Former Illini pitcher Scott Shaw continues to give the New York Mets reason to pay attention. A 13th-round pick in the 2008 amateur draft, Shaw finished ninth in the Hawaii Winter League in ERA at 2.51. The right-hander had a 2-2 record in eight games, including seven starts, for the Honolulu Sharks. Shaw struck out 35 and allowed 12 hits in 32 1/3 innings. He ranked fifth in the league in strikeouts and tied for fourth in innings pitched.

Ex-Illini catcher Lars Davis, who also played for the Sharks, hit .222 with one home run and seven RBI in 20 games. A former third-round draft choice of the Colorado Rockies, Davis has played two minor league seasons.

THE LIST

Ashley Edinger moved into third place on the Illini single-season digs list Saturday while recording 16 against Michigan State. With 493 digs in 2008, the junior libero now owns three of the top four single-season totals in school history. The top 10:

NAME DIGS YEAR

Ashley Edinger 564 2007

Beth Vrdsky 520 2005

Ashley Edinger 493 2008

Ashley Edinger 488 2006

Tracey Marshall 465 1998

Erin Borske 396 1995

Lauren Harks 393 2003

Mary Coleman 391 1998

Shadia Haddad 371 2000

Shadia Haddad 368 2001

THE NUMBER

0.80

Final goals-against average by the Illini soccer team. The figure ranks second in school single-season history behind 0.53 in 2003.