EVANSTON, Ill. – For the first time since the 2012 season, the No. 18 Fighting Illini volleyball team left Welsh Ryan Arena with a win as the Illini put together a thrilling 3-2 comeback victory over Northwestern on Wednesday (Nov. 4) night in Evanston, Ill.
The Illini earn their third-straight victory and first fifth-set win of the season to improve to 16-8 and 7-6 in the Big Ten Conference, while the Wildcats fall to 13-11 and 5-8 in the league.
"It is just nice to get a win here," said head coach Kevin Hambly. "It has eluded us for the last several years and you know it is a good rivalry as far as it stayed. It is always a struggle here, so for us to get this was a big deal. I think it was a really big deal actually."
"I thought Jordyn Poulter did a really, really good job. She steadied us out and played great defense at the net with her block. I thought she was the difference tonight, actually. I thought it got us going a little bit and she got Michelle Strizak going big time and that was huge because we were not siding out on those rotations. I was very pleased."
Despite falling behind 2-1, the Illini stormed back in the fourth to force the decisive fifth set. After giving up the set's first point, UI put together a 5-0 run fueled by Jocelynn Birks. Battling back, the Wildcats evened the score at 8-8, before the two teams traded points back and forth. With the home team leading by two at 13-11, the Illini closed the door on its rival with a 5-1 run to take a 16-14 set in and a 3-2 victory the match.
After the Wildcats opened the match with back-to-back points, the Illini strung together a 6-0 run on the serve of Ali Stark, before pushing the lead to 9-3 and forcing NU to call timeout. Out of the break, the Wildcats came all the way back to even the score at 14-14, but UI used an 8-2 run to take command of the set at 22-16. The Illini then went on to win the first, 25-18, after a Strizak kill followed by a pair of NU attack errors.
The Illini continued into the second set as UI jumped out to a 7-2 edge, but again the Wildcats battled back to knot things up at 13-13. The two teams would go back-and-forth throughout much of the set until the Illini grabbed a 23-20 lead. Three-straight Wildcat points then led to an 8-3 run that would give the home team the 28-26 set two victory.
It was another back-and-forth set in the third with seven ties as neither team could take control until five-straight Wildcat points put the home team up 22-16. The Illini closed within 23-20 as Poulter entered for starting setter Alexis Viliunas, but would be unable to make the comeback as NU took the third, 25-21.
Trailing 2-1 in the match, the Illini found their spark again en route to building an early 10-6 advantage. UI pushed its lead to 14-7 with six-straight points, including five coming on Poulter's serve. Holding an eight-point lead at 18-10, the Orange and Blue did not let up, using three-straight points on a Strizak kill and two NU errors to close out the set at 25-16.
Birks paced the Illini with a match-high 17 kills to go along with 16 digs for her eighth double-double of the season and the 50th of her career. With her 17 kills, Birks is just two kills from equaling Laura DeBruler's all-time kills record of 1,833. Katie Stadick and Strizak also added nine kills in the win.
Senior Alexis Viliunas started the match and registered career-high seven kills, while adding 21 assists and four blocks before Poulter subbed in and posted 19 assists off the bench.
Brandi Donnelly came within one dig of her season-high with 24 on the night, while Julia Conard tied her career-high with 18 digs.
Reigning B1G Co-Defensive and Freshman of the Week Ali Bastianelli continued her strong play at the net with eight blocks.
Rivalry Week continues for Illinois as the Illini host the Wildcats on Saturday (Nov. 7) in Huff Hall. Match time is set for 7 p.m. CT and can be seen on BTN Plus.
