Oct. 11, 2014
University Park, Pa. - The Fighting Illini pulled off an exciting upset this afternoon, taking down defending National Champion No. 5 Penn State, 3-1, in front of a crowd of 3,594 at storied Rec Hall. The Illini erased a 19-8 deficit to win the first set, 26-24, then after dropping the second set, 25-16, the Orange and Blue captured the match in four with 25-23 and 25-22 wins in the final two sets. With the win, the Illini improve to 12-5 (4-2 Big Ten), while the Nittany Lions fall to 16-3 (4-2 Big Ten).
"I was proud of the kids for fighting the way they fought and continuing to punch and punch," said head coach Kevin Hambly. "This is a tough place to win. To come in here and play the way we played, we did a good job. After some big runs by Penn State, in the past I think we would have gone down, and I think we handled it great."
The win marks the Illini's third victory at Rec Hall in program history and the first to come in less than five sets. Illinois last won in University Park on Oct. 8, 2011, and the Nittany Lions had since gone 44-1 at home, including bringing a 19-match home win streak into today's loss. To put into perspective just how rare this feat is, Penn State has won 94 of its last 97 Big Ten home matches, with Illinois now representing two of those three conference losses.
The Illini made a personnel change prior to the match, opting to go with Alexis Viliunas as the sole setter and moving Allison Palmer to the role of serving specialist, where she registered an ace. As a result, Julia Conard had the chance to play back row for Liz McMahon, where she went on to break her personal best with a match-leading 18 digs. Viliunas tallied 47 assists to go along with eight digs, three kills and two blocks, and libero Brandi Donnelly posted 14 digs.
"The hardest thing about the 6-2 had been that I can't use Julia," said Hambly. "That's what I was most excited about, getting her out there tonight. She's a tremendous defensive player and she passed great tonight. She's been working really hard, and it was fun to see her making some plays out there.
"(Viliunas) looked comfortable, she looked aggressive," Hambly continued. "I thought she did a great job. And I thought Roustio came in and brought some fire. She hit hard and made some plays. She's been doing that in practice, and it was nice to see her doing that in a match."
"Lex and I have really had a great connection lately," said Roustio. "Her tempo is right there and we work well together."
The Fighting Illini pin hitters dominated the offense, led by Jocelynn Birks, who had a double-double with 19 kills and 12 digs, hitting .472. McMahon was not far behind with 17 kills, and Katie Roustio posted a career-high 11 with three digs and two blocks. With their performances tonight, Birks (1,259) and McMahon (1,249) both passed Betsy Spicer (1997-00) to move into ninth and 10th place, respectively, on the Illini's career kills list.
"It was so much fun," said Roustio. "We were all so pumped, and I just wanted to bring my energy to the court."
Penn State entered the match leading the conference with a .129 opening hitting percentage, but the Illini were nearly error free, hitting just three balls out of bounds or into the net the entire match, to post an impressive .315 clip against the Nittany Lions.
Katie Stadick posted eight kills and four blocks in the match, while Anna Dorn tied for the team lead with four blocks, including one solo.
Penn State had four attackers with double-digit kills, led by Aiyana Whitney with 15. Haleigh Washington followed with 14, and Ali Frantti and Nia Grant both had 13. Outside hitter Megan Courtney was stifled on offense, but led the defense with 13 digs, and libero Dominique Gonzalez tallied 12. Setter Micha Hancock posted 53 assists to go with eight kills, eight digs, three aces and four blocks, and Washington led both teams with seven of the Nittany Lions' 13 blocks.
The Nittany Lions used tough serving including three early aces to take a quick 6-1 lead in the first set and soon extended it to 19-8. However, Birks slammed a kill then stepped behind the service line to help the Illini rattle off four straight points, then a kill and a block by Roustio pulled the Illini even closer, 20-15, forcing a Penn State timeout. Grant struck a kill after the pause, but the Illini did not back down, as two kills and a block by McMahon made it 23-19, and an ace by Donnelly helped the Illini pull within one, 23-22. Frantti made it set point, 24-22, with a kill, but a service error handed Conard the ball behind the service line. Back-to-back kills by Birks gave the Illini their first lead of the match, 25-24, and the Illini defense then forced Whitney to hit the next ball out of bounds as the Illini completed an unbelievable comeback to take the first set, 26-24.
"That's pretty miraculous," said Hambly "That had a lot to do with both of us; I think we started to play better and they started to relax a little bit. They made some errors that gave us some chances, and I don't think that happens again if we play that match over. I think we were pretty fortunate."
"We knew we could come back because we weren't playing how we wanted to," said Roustio. "We kept going and pushing and we knew we had it in us."
Hancock served up an eight-point run to give the Nittany Lions an 18-6 lead in the second set, and while the Illini once again battled back, the Orange and Blue were unable to complete the comeback, as Frantti helped the Nittany Lions win the final three points of the set to even the match with a 25-16 win in the second.
Illinois opened up an early 5-2 lead to start the third set and never looked back, holding onto its lead for the entirety of the frame. Penn State hung tough, pulling to within one, 23-22, and again 24-23, but the Illini held strong, as a kill by Roustio closed the stanza in Illinois' favor, 25-23.
Donnelly served the Illini to a 7-1 lead with the help of back-to-back aces to open the fourth set. Illinois continued to cruise, pulling ahead 22-13, when Penn State began to fight back with the help of three straight blocks, pulling within four, 23-19. McMahon set up Illini match point, 24-19, but back-to-back kills by Whitney inched Penn State even closer, 24-22. After an Illini timeout, senior middle Anna Dorn sealed the deal with a solo block on a tip by Whitney to close out the signature Illini victory, 25-22.
"I thought that in the last two sets, we did a great job with Hancock's serve," said Hambly. "I thought that was the key to the match. That was one of our keys coming into tonight, that we have to handle her serve because she can score so well on it, and I thought we did a nice job on it."
Illinois' road trip continues on Wednesday, Oct. 15, with a mid-week trip to Iowa. The match will air live on Big Ten Network beginning at 8 p.m. CT.
