Aug. 24, 2012

Final Stats

Dayton, Ohio -

Match One Box Score

Five years ago to the date Laura DeBruler had the most prolific debut in Illinois history with 28 kills on the University of Dayton floor against Bowling Green. On Friday night, redshirt freshmen Jocelynn Birks had 16 kills and hit .452 on the same court, but the Illini ran into a determined Dayton team, who swept the No. 7 Illini 25-14, 25-17, 25-21 in front of a spirited crowd of 2,224 at the Frericks Center.

Illinois struggled in serve receive in the first two sets and Dayton responded by tallying six aces while hitting .464 and .387, respectively, in the first two sets.

Dayton, who returned six starters from last season's NCAA team and is the favorite to repeat as champions of the Atlantic 10, used its experience to score at will most of the night on the Illini. Outside hitter Rachel Krabacher had 17 kills while hitting. 381, middle blocker Megan Campbell had 11 kills in 14 swings (.786) and Alaina Turner had 11 kills while hitting .429. The Flyers hit .402 with just five unforced errors all night.

"No one hit below .250," Illinois head coach Kevin Hambly noted. "Tonight we weren't defensive minded and they took advantage of that. This is a buzz saw we came into tonight. They were ready for us."

While Dayton dominated the first two sets, Illinois regrouped in set three where Birks had eight of her 16 kills on the night. The Illini were also able to get right side hitter Liz McMahon (nine kills) going. Illinois led 9-7 before Dayton went ahead for good on a 4-0 run. Birks tooled scored cross court to cut the gap to 19-18, but Dayton responded by scoring three of the next four points and finally put the Illini away.

"Birks was tough and then McMahon got going and Ali had a couple of nice swings," said Hambly. "We have a long way to go to play at the level we need to play. We have a lot of work ahead of us. That's part of being a young team."

Illinois steadily increased its hitting percentage from .185 in the first set, to .233 in set two and .300 in the third and final set, but in the end, couldn't slow down the tough Dayton attack.

Jennifer Beltran paced Illinois with 18 digs and senior Annie Luhrsen had 35 assists in the three-set match. The Illini were out-blocked 7-2 on the evening.

Illinois plays No. 11 Pepperdine at 9 a.m. CT on Saturday before facing Ohio at 4 p.m. Pepperdine topped Ohio in straight sets in the tournament opener.