Nov. 2, 2014
Ann Arbor, Mich. - The Illinois volleyball team picked up its 10th Big Ten victory on Saturday, battling back after dropping the first two sets to defeat Michigan, 3-2 (24-26, 21-25, 25-19, 25-18, 15-9). Head coach Kevin Hambly's team improved to 18-5 on the season and 10-2 in the Big Ten with the five-set victory, while the Wolverines dropped to 10-12 (5-7 Big Ten).
The Illini win marks the first sweep of the Michigan road trip since the 2003 season, as the Orange and Blue have had split results on the trip eight times over the past 10 seasons.
"I'm not going to make a big deal about it," said Hambly. "It's just a tough road trip as always. I'm just glad that we got the two wins. Time will tell though. We are still growing and still trying to figure ourselves out a little."
The win was the third straight come-from-behind win over the Wolverines, as the Illini trailed 2-1 in Ann Arbor then erased an 0-2 deficit at Huff Hall to defeat Michigan in five sets in both meetings in 2013.
Jocelynn Birks led all players with 26 kills, hitting .311. The redshirt junior has registered at least 20 kills in all five career contests against the Wolverines, posting her Big Ten-leading 13th double-double of the season with 13 digs.
Senior Morganne Criswell got hot for the Illini late and finished with 17 kills on 49 attacks for a .245 percentage. Liz McMahon added 13 kills on 39 attacks for a .205 hitting percentage.
"I thought that the kid that made the biggest turnaround in the match was Morganne." said Hambly. "She really struggled early. We don't win that match if she doesn't turn it around, but she did and we pulled it out."
Setter Alexis Viliunas registered her second career 20-20, posting team highs with 53 assists and 20 digs to go along with four kills and three blocks. Libero Brandi Donnelly added 19 digs, while defensive specialists Julia Conard and Danielle Davis combined for 25. At the net, two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week Katie Stadick put up eight blocks, helping to hold the Wolverines to a .185 clip on the night.
The Michigan offense was led by Abby Cole, who accounted for 20 of the Wolverines' 68 kills. Adeja Lambert added 16 of her own in addition to 17 digs. Lexi Dannemiller tallied 57 assists in the Michigan loss to go with six kills on 13 attacks. Libero Tiffany Morales led all players with 24 digs on the night.
In a packed Cliff-Keen Arena no lead was safe for either side. The first set saw 12 ties between the two Big Ten programs. Illinois finally gained some momentum as Conard stepped back to serve four straight and give the Illini a 13-9 advantage. With the match knotted at 17-all, the Wolverines grabbed the next three points before Anna Dorn found the floor with a kill to make the score 20-18 in favor of the host. After trailing, 22-18, Conard served the set to a 22-22 draw, but the Wolverines took the frame 26-24 on back-to-back kills by Cole.
Donnelly and Davis served the Fighting Illini to an 8-4 advantage early. In five plays, Birks had three kills to open up an 11-6 lead. Davis and Donnelly went back to serve again on the second rotation to build the Illini lead to seven, 18-11, but Michigan pulled within three after scoring on five of the next six plays (16-19). With the score at 16-21 in favor of the Orange and Blue, Michigan scored nine straight points off six kills to stun the Illini with a 25-21 victory in the second, heading to the locker room ahead two sets to none.
"In the second set, we were in complete control and that was the first time I've seen us fracture like that in quite a while," said Hambly. "We weren't together as a unit. [Michigan] worked a little bit harder to make some plays and gave themselves a chance to win that set, and they pulled it off."
At the long break, Hambly told the Illini to "execute and play our style."
Michigan jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the third set, but errors soon plagued the Wolverines as the Illini opened up a 9-4 lead to force a timeout. Criswell found the floor on her first two of six kills in the third set to push the Illinois lead to a 14-6 advantage. Two more consecutive Criswell kills resulted in a 21-13 Illinois lead and prompted Michigan to use its second timeout. The Wolverines were unable to repeat their second set comeback and Hambly's crew found themselves on the good side of a 25-19 decision to stay alive.
To begin the fourth set Michigan again opened up an early lead, but the Illini found themselves knotted at 3, 4, 5 and 7 with the Wolverines before Criswell came alive again. The senior's second of seven kills in the set gave Illinois an 8-7 lead that it would not relinquish. Michigan was forced to call a timeout down 14-18 but was unable to slim the Orange and Blue's lead to anything less than four points. Criswell recorded a kill for the set point and a 25-18 Illinois advantage to send the match to a fifth and final set.
Illinois registered nine kills in the short, deciding set including five from Birks alone. The tone of the final stanza was set quickly as Michigan opened with a service error to give the Illini the lead. Davis stepped back to serve for Illinois and helped the team to a 3-0 advantage. A Michigan ace pulled the Wolverines within one, 3-4, but the Illini would run away with the set building a lead as large as six on four occasions and ultimately taking the match, 15-9, as Birks registered her 26th kill of the match to give Illinois the decision.
After dropping the first three five-set matches of the season, the Illini have now won its past two in a row, following the Illini's 3-2 victory at Iowa as part of the Illini's current seven-match winning streak.
The Orange and Blue head to Northwestern on Wednesday, Nov. 5 for a 7 p.m. contest before returning to Huff Hall on Saturday to host the Wildcats for a 5 p.m. match scheduled to air on the Big Ten Network.
