DES MOINES, Iowa – The Fighting Illini volleyball team's run in the NCAA Tournament ended with a three-set setback to Big Ten Champions and No. 2 overall seed Minnesota in the NCAA Regional semifinals on Friday night (Dec. 11) in the Wells Fargo Arena.
Illinois finishes the 2015 campaign with a 21-13 record and advanced to the sixth NCAA Regional in seven years under head coach Kevin Hambly.
Minnesota improves to 29-4 on the year and will face Hawaii in the NCAA Des Moines Regional Final on Saturday night at 5:30 p.m. CT.
"Congratulations to Minnesota on advancing and making it to the final," said Hambly. "They've had a great year thus far and know that they had a good chance to keep it going. I think the match was an interesting one where we felt we were in really good control in the first two sets, [but] we just couldn't finish and play good defense. It would get us in trouble and just couldn't finish the sets. Unfortunately, that's kind of what's happened for us throughout the year. We've been up on teams we just haven't been able to finish those sets. It was kind of a little microcosm of our season. So that's disappointing. We are fighting to resolve that of course, all year, but I wanted to see it this match. I thought they fought hard and competed at eye level. They did their best to execute. Certainly we didn't pass the way we wanted to; maybe we could've had a little more success offensively, especially early."
"I'm proud of this group. I say this a lot, it is just volleyball. And the thing is it is hard when you lose because you love coaching the group that you have. The impact on volleyball these guys have made is big. The impact they've made on our culture, on me, and their teammates is bigger. I think that is a thing I'm going to miss more. It's a big group of six kids and they're all incredible kids. To not having them around anymore, to not see their faces, and to be a big part of their life, that's the hardest part about this. And at the end of the day this just being volleyball, we are going to carry a lot in their relationships and all those things as we move along in life. And hopefully they've learned some things and I've learned a lot of things from them. When we look back, we will remember the loss, certainty, you always do. But I think what we will remember more is the impact that we all had on each other. It's pretty profound and it's an honor to have coached this group of seniors and this team throughout this year."
Junior Michelle Strizak led the Illini with 12 kills on 31 attacks and only one error for a .355 hitting percentage, while redshirt-senior Jocelynn Birks turned in nine kills and was the team co-leader with seven digs in her final match in the Orange and Blue. Birks finishes her Illini career as Illinois' all-time career kills and attacks leader with 1,972 kills and 5,656 attacks.
"Like he [Kevin] said, just the experience," said Birks on what she was going to remember about her time at Illinois. "I've been surrounded by great coaches and teammates all five years. I'm really going to miss being around the team and the coaches every day, all the time. They're great people and I've had an awesome experience. I think just the people is what I'm going to miss the most. Obviously, the volleyball I'm sure I will have more of that sometime in the future. But the people at Illinois have been amazing."
"Like Kevin said earlier, they changed the culture," said Strizak of the 2015 senior class. "I remember coming in here and they talked about what we wanted to be and how we wanted to act on and off the court. Now when the freshmen come in, we don't have to talk about it. It's expected that we are Illinois volleyball and this is how we are going to be. And you should respect it and they respect that."
It was a back-and-forth start to the match as the two teams traded points in the early going. The Illini grabbed its first lead of the set at 10-8 as a solo Katie Stadick block was followed by a Gopher attack error. Three-straight points from the Illini pushed the UI edge to 13-9, but Minnesota closed with 13-12 on an Illini ball handing error. UI responded with a 5-0 run capitalized by an Ali Bastianelli and Michelle Strizak block. Holding a 22-18 advantage, the Illini looked to close the set out, but Minnesota stormed back with 7-0 run to take the first, 25-22.
The Gophers continued their momentum from the opener as they built a 7-4 lead and pushed it out to 10-5 on a service ace. Spurred by a Bastianelli and Naya Crittenden block, the Illini used a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to 12-11. Minnesota again pushed its edge to four at 18-14, but back-to-back kills from Bastianelli and Strizak, followed by back-to-back blocks knotted the score at 18-18. The score would be tied three more times before a Jordyn Poulter dump gave the Illini a 22-21 lead. The Gophers answered by scoring the next four of five points to win set two, 25-23 and grab a 2-0 lead heading into the break.
Out of intermission, Minnesota quickly jumped out to a 7-3 advantage and led 10-5 before a Birks kills brought the Illini within 13-10. Starting to heat up, the Gophers pushed their lead to 16-11, but UI continued to battle as a back-to-back Crittenden kills brought the deficit to just two at 16-14. The Illini again closed to with 19-17, but the No. 2 seed finished off the Illini with six-straight points for a 25-17 set three win and a 3-0 victory in the match.
Poulter orchestrated the Illini offense with 34 assists on the night and was the team co-leader with seven digs.
Crittenden paced UI with six block assists and notched seven kills on 15 swings and one error for a .400 hitting percentage, while Bastianelli and Stadick each had four blocks in the match.
With the loss, the Illini will say goodbye to six seniors on this season's roster, including Birks, Julia Conard, Alexis Viliunas, Ali Stark, Maddie Mayers and Kathryn Polkoff.
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