Oct. 24, 2014
Champaign, Ill. - The Fighting Illini returned home from a two-week road trip to host Indiana on Friday night and gave the Illini faithful an exciting start to homecoming weekend with a 3-0 sweep (25-18, 25-14, 25-19) of the Hoosiers. Illinois middle blockers Anna Dorn and Katie Stadick helped the Illini to outhit the Hoosiers .378 to .085, combining for 16 kills and eight block assists without committing an error. With the win, Illinois improves to 15-5 (7-2 Big Ten), while Indiana drops to 12-9 (3-6 Big Ten).
"I thought that our passing allowed Lex [Viliunas] to get me up on some of the quicks," said Dorn. "Also, Lex was just putting it in a great spot and just allowed me to hit over the blockers and hit around them. I think that the more that you work on it, it's your hope that you become more confident with your setter and I think Lex and I did a really good job this week of connecting and working on that."
Dorn put together one of the strongest offensive performances of her career, hitting .714 with 10 kills and six blocks. It was the first time the fifth-year senior reached double-digit kills since Nov. 10, 2012, when she tallied 12 kills in five sets at Ohio State.
"When Dorn gets as many swings as Jocelyn [Birks], that's a good thing, especially when she's hitting .700," said head coach Kevin Hambly. "She's been hitting great. I hope we can get to her even more in those situations as we go forward because I think it puts a lot of pressure on the defense."
Stadick was also flawless on offense, tallying six kills on eight swings, making good use of the slide play. Opposite hitter Liz McMahon heated up as the match wore on, slugging seven kills in the third set to lead the match with 11 kills and just one error, hitting .556 with three blocks. Morganne Criswell followed with eight kills and three blocks, including one solo, while Jocelynn Birks was limited to just four kills.
"Our passing was really great tonight," said Viliunas, "and I think both middles did a really great job of getting up and getting themselves into good spots to get set and put the ball away."
Brandi Donnelly led the match with 15 digs to go with an ace, and Alexis Viliunas was next on the team with seven. Birks and Danielle Davis each tallied five digs, while Viliunas added 31 assists, three kills, two blocks and an ace.
"One of the things that we always talk about is that we control our defensive effort," said Dorn. "I think that's one way that we can really control what other team comes out on the other side of the net. We've seen Indiana play better in the past, but one of the ways we were able to slow them down and contain them was by being really aggressive with our block and I thought Morganne did a great job slowing down their slides. Typically in the past they've been really strong, so that was one of the things we focused on and suppressed that."
Amelia Anderson and Morgan Leach led the Hoosier attack with eight kills apiece and Awele Nwaeze hit .455 with five kills and a service ace. Setter Megan Tallman tallied 23 assists, and libero Courtney Harnish was tops on the team with eight digs.
The Illini and Hoosiers traded side outs early in the first set, but a Criswell-Dorn block and a McMahon kill helped the Orange and Blue to take a 10-5 lead and they never looked back. The Hoosiers fought back to within three, 14-11, on a kill by Anderson, but that was the closest they would get, as the Illini ran away with the set, 25-18. Dorn was crucial in the opening stanza, notching four blocks and three kills.
The second set was close early, but a Dorn kill put Viliunas behind the service line, and the junior setter went on to lead the Illini on a 10-point run with the help of an ace and two more Dorn kills to take a daunting 18-6 lead. Chante George finally got the side out for the Hoosiers with a kill, but Illinois kept cruising, winning the second set, 25-14.
Indiana came back from the break a strong team, serving tougher and keeping the score close, including taking an early 5-3 lead, but two kills by McMahon and an ace by Donnelly helped Illinois to a 12-9 lead, forcing a Hoosier timeout. Indiana cam back to tie the score at 12, but The Illini battled back out in front, 18-15, on kills by Dorn and Criswell, and three McMahon kills over the final eight plays of the game closed out the match for the Illini with a 25-19 win in the third.
Tonight was the annual Breast Cancer Awareness match, as all 18 Illini sported special-edition pink jerseys. Earlier this season, the Illini Networkers raised over $5,000 for Mills Breast Cancer Institute in a silent auction of the jerseys, and the winners were granted the opportunity to place the name of their choice on the back of their respective jersey. The Illini wore them proudly, acknowledging friends, family and fans who have struggled with breast cancer.
The Illini have a quick turnaround as they return to Huff on Saturday at 5 p.m. to host No. 13 Purdue, who sits one match ahead of the Illini tied for first place in the Big Ten standings. The Boilermakers come to Champaign after bouncing back from down 0-2 to defeat Northwestern in five sets tonight in Evanston. Saturday's match will air live on Big Ten Network.
