MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – In it's 12th-consecutive match away from home, the Illinois volleyball team fell to 16th-ranked Minnesota in Minneapolis on Saturday, Oct. 3. The contest went five sets with the Fighting Illini taking the second and third frames over the Gophers. Illinois fell to 11-4 (2-2 B1G) while the hosts improved to 11-3 (3-1 B1G).
On a fifth-set kill, Jocelynn Birks became Illinois' all-time attacks leader. Birks entered the match needing 56 attacks to break the record and closed out the evening with a mark of 57. The redshirt senior now has 4,808 attacks in her career and passed Laura DeBruler (2007-10) who sits at 4,806. Birks is now just 140 kills away from DeBruler's all-time kills record as well (1,833).
Minnesota opened the contest taking the first four points before a Birks kill put Illinois on the board. UI went on to get the next three tallies as well to knot the match at 4-4. The sides saw ties at 9-9 and 11-11 before Illinois took its first lead of the match at 12-11. The Fighting Illini went up 15-13 to force a Minnesota timeout. The Orange and Blue pushed ahead to a 20-17 advantage to force a second Gopher timeout. Minnesota went on a four-point run and took a 24-22 lead before UI fended off a pair of set points to even it out at 24-24. The hosts ended up taking the opener 26-24.
Set two saw the hosts open up an early 6-1 lead before the Fighting Illini battled back to pull within 10-9 and force a Gopher timeout. An Ali Bastianelli kill knotted the set, for the first time, at 10, but Minnesota took the next three points. Illinois kept hanging around and tied the frame at 18-18. After the Gophers hit 20 first, UI put together a four-point run to take a 23-20 advantage before closing out the set with a 25-22 win to knot the match at a set apiece.
The third set opened with Minnesota getting on the board first again, but Illinois followed with the next two points to take the lead. UI jumped out to a 6-3 lead to force a Minnesota stoppage and pushed ahead to a 10-5 advantage afterwards. Jordyn Poulter achieved a double-double in the match mid-way through the set. The Orange and Blue led by as much as 21-13 before finishing the frame with a 25-22 reading.
After Illinois notched the opening point in set four, the sides worked out to a 3-3 tie before Minnesota jumped out to a 7-3 advantage to force a UI timeout. The Gophers pushed to an 11-4 mark before taking the set by a mark of 25-10 to force a decisive fifth set at the Sports Pavilion.
In the fifth set, Minnesota opened the scoring and jumped out to a 6-2 advantage to force all Illinois timeout. The teams switched sides with Minnesota ahead by six. After an Illinois stoppage, down 2-9, Birks' next swing resulted in a kill and the all-time attacks record at Illinois. UI fell in the set 15-6 to Minnesota.
Birks finished just one dig shy of a double-double performance in her 22-kill, nine-dig outing. This was Birks second-straight 20-kill contest and the 29th of her career.
Poulter notched the fifth double-double of her young Illinois career. The freshman setter posted a career-best 59 assists and 21 digs. Additionally, this was the first 20-dig performance of Poulter's career.
Michelle Strizak finished with 18 kills on 51 attacks for a .216 hitting percentage while Katie Stadick posted 17 kills on 33 swings for a .364 average. Katie Roustio came off the bench and contributed seven kills of her own. Bastianelli finished with three kills and four blocking assists.
Brandi Donnelly tallied 15 digs and four assists to go along with eight digs and three assists by Danielle Davis.
UI finally returns to Huff Hall after five weeks, and six trips, on the road since its last home match. Top-ranked (currently) Penn State will come to town on Friday, Oct. 9, for a 7 p.m. CT contest that will air on BTN. The match will also be the Orange and Blue's IlliNOISE night, where the UI Marketing & Promotions Staff will take a decibel meter reading during the match try to top last year's record-reading of 105 dB.
