Sept. 12, 2014
Murfreesboro, Tenn. - The No. 12 Illinois volleyball team captured its fourth 3-0 victory of the season on Friday evening, opening the Blue Raider Bash by defeating host Middle Tennessee State in straight sets. After a dominating performance in set one, where Illinois out-hit MTSU .619 to -.115 to claim the frame, 25-11, Middle Tennessee fought back to take an early lead in the second and a late lead in the third, but the Illini completed the sweep with set scores of 25-20 and 25-23, respectively. With the win, Illinois improves to 4-2, while MTSU drops to 2-7.
"They're a team that's kind of hot and cold, and we knew that," head coach Kevin Hambly said of Friday's opponent. "If they get hot, they get really hot, and they did. They had a good crowd; it wasn't a big crowd, but the students were good. And after that first set, they started to get us to play their style, their tempo, and it's tough. They were scrambling and making plays, and they got some momentum going. We got caught up in it and we got a little sloppy. We like to play cleaner than that.
"We were fortunate that they made some errors and we made some plays at the end. I thought we came up big when it really mattered, but I think overall we could play at a higher level."
Senior Liz McMahon and junior Jocelynn Birks tied for the team lead with 10 kills apiece and Ali Stark followed with nine, hitting .571.
"Ali can go," said Hambly, "she can play. She's an offensive threat for us. When she and Palms connect well, then she's really good. She runs a tough tempo for them to deal with, and sometimes we missed on that so she didn't get the kill, but when the tempo was there and the set was there, I thought she was really good. She did a nice job blocking against a team that's hard to block; they have some physical kids that can bring it, and I thought she did a nice job."
Anna Dorn led a prolific front line with six of the Illini's 10.5 blocks, while McMahon and Katie Stadick stuffed four each and Birks added an additional three.
"Dorn I thought blocked outstanding," said Hambly. "I thought she was all over the place. She got a little caught up in the net a couple of times, but I thought she blocked really well, and I also thought Katie blocked really well. Katie was making moves I've never seen her make. And she had to, because when they pressure you, you have to be able to make plays, and it was great to see that."
Allison Palmer and Alexis Viliunas had 16 and 12 assists, respectively, while Palmer and Birks both landed two service aces. Libero Brandi Donnelly tallied a team-best nine digs to go along with her first career kill, and Danielle Davis added seven digs.
Maya Miller was Middle Tennessee's strongest attacker, tallying a match-leading 11 kills, followed closely by Chelsea Ross with 10, but 26 total attack errors hurt the Blue Raiders' offense tremendously. Haley Morton led the team with 18 assists, followed by Brianna Pannone with 14, and libero Jacqueline Lux led the match with 11 digs. Monet Marshall struggled offensively, but stuffed six blocks to go along with two service aces.
Illinois opened up a 5-1 lead in the first set and never looked back, cruising to a 25-11 win in the opening frame. The Illini were extremely efficient, hitting .619 with 13 kills and no errors, while holding the Blue Raiders to -.115 with the help of five blocks, three of which included Stadick.
The Blue Raiders battled back in the second set to take an early 5-3 lead, but Illinois pulled away 15-11 with the help of two McMahon kills, and the Orange and Blue never relinquished the advantage, soon reaching set point 24-18. Middle Tennessee fought off two set points, but their 19th attack error of the match ended the frame in Illinois' favor, 25-20.
Illinois paced the third set, hanging on to a small lead for the majority of play, but a key service run capped by an ace by Morgan St. Germain erased a three-point deficit for MTSU to tie the score at 19. A well-timed Illinois timeout iced the server, as St. Germain returned from the break for a net serve, but a slam by Chelsea Ross gave the Blue Raiders a late 21-20 advantage. A kill and a block by McMahon put Illinois back in control, 22-21. Jazmyne Johnson evened the score with a swing, but McMahon finished a long rally with a kill to keep Illinois ahead, 23-22. Birks set up Illinois match point with a kill, but the Blue Raiders would not back down as a kill by Ross pulled them back within one.
"They weren't nervous in that moment; they weren't anxious," said Hambly. "They actually calmed down more then than they did in the middle of the set, which was good to see."
And that was clear on the next point, when Davis passed the serve perfectly to Palmer, who set up Birks, who crushed the ball to center court to finish out the match with a 25-23 Illini win in the third.
"Jocelynn had a huge swing to finish it," said Hambly, "which was probably the best swing she had all match. It's good to see your junior All-American make that play."
Illinois returns to Alumni Memorial Gym for two matches on Saturday, Sept. 13, to finish out the Blue Raider Bash. The Illini begin the day against Virginia Tech at 12:30 p.m. then face off with Washington State at 7:30 p.m. Illinois will face both teams for the first time in program history.
