LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Fighting Illini volleyball team opened its 2015 NCAA Tournament with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 26-24) sweep of a pesky Southern Illinois squad on Friday night (Dec. 4) in Cardinal Arena to advance to the second round for the second-straight season and the seventh time in the last 10 seasons.
The Illini, who improved to 20-12 on the season, will meet No. 15 seed and host Louisville in the second round on Saturday night at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN3. The Cardinals defeated Ohio Valley Conference tournament champion Belmont, 3-1, in their first round match on Friday.
After making its first NCAA Tournament in program history, Missouri Valley Conference at-large selection Southern Illini finishes their season with a 23-10 mark in 2015.
"[First off] Congratulations to SIU, first time making the tournament," said head coach Kevin Hambly. "Coming into the match when we were scouting them we thought they would be a really tough team for us to play. That it was an interesting matchup as far as their tempo they run and the speed that they can play, [and] their athleticism. I thought we did a pretty good job of handling that. It was very different than what we have seen all year and I thought a big key was we did a nice job of playing in that tempo. Especially early in those first two sets, [the set] got a little bit away from us in the third, but we figured it out. It was a fun match to play. I thought because it was an aggressive match on both sides. Both teams were going after it, no one let up. It was great to be in a fight at the end. It was a good match, it was fun to be a part of especially for our first round match."
"I thought Jordyn was doing a great job of just spreading the ball around to all of our hitters and putting them in places where we could hit them," said junior Katie Stadick. I thought our defense did a really good job too just handling their tempo like Kevin talked about."
In a competitive opening set, the Salukis jumped out quickly to control the momentum early on and held a two-point lead on four occasions, before the Illini evened up the score at 6-6. From there, the two teams went back-and-forth as the set saw five ties and six lead changes over the next several points. With the score knotted at 19-19, the Illini took the final lead of the set as they rattled off the next six points – including five coming on the serve of senior Julia Conard – to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
"I think it is huge to get the first set," said Hambly. "The first round you never know how the team is going to play. Once you get to the tournament it is always kind of – you never now know the first match of the year and you never know the first NCAA match, you always feel like let's see what these guys are about. I agree with what they said we were really nervous to start off with. I thought we started to settle down and figure out the tempo. They're hard to play because we haven't seen anything like that so it took us a while to adjust too our eyes to the speed and I thought once we started to adjust with our eyes and see their game a little better we really got calm and we were able to side out at a high level at the end which was huge."
"I think it was important for us to get the momentum going," added redshirt Jocelynn Birks. "I think both sides were a little rusty in the first set and getting warmed up so it was good to be able to close that one out. In the second and third I think both teams were definitely were a lot more competitive and it was more fun."
It was an improved start to the second set as the Illini rattled off five points before the Salukis got on the board. With the SIU closing within 8-5, the Illini used three quick points to push their lead out to 11-5 on a Jordyn Poulter service ace. The Orange and Blue continued to control the set as a Stadick kill moved the score to 16-10 in favor of the Illini, before four-straight UI points pushed the lead to 20-11. From there, the Illini sailed to the second set victory as Birks finished it off with a kill.
Despite the 2-0 deficit, the Salukis came out fired up in the third and scored the set's first five points. The Illini responded with a 4-1 run to cut the score to 6-4, before storming ahead at 8-7 as a Brandi Donnelly dig to keep a key play alive led to a big-time block from Stadick. Poulter then pushed the Illini ahead with UI's second-straight block. With the set tied at 9-9, the Salukis put together a 7-1 run, including six-straight points to open a 16-10 edge. Not wanting the match to go beyond the third, the Illini answered with their own 7-1 run, led by Birks with four kills and a block assist, to catapult UI in front at 19-18. From then on it was a dogfight to the finish with five ties throughout the final points. With the score deadlocked for the fifth time at 24-24, the Illini took advantage of a Saluki attack error, before Birks sent her team into the second round with her biggest kill of the night.
As a team, the Illini posted a .231 hitting percentage, including a .325 mark in the second set, while holding the Salukis to a .137 hitting percentage. UI also tallied four service aces and did not record a service error in a match for the first time this season.
Stadick paced the Illini with a strong outing, collecting a match-high 12 kills with no errors on 19 swings for a .632 hitting percentage and was the team co-leader with four blocks.
Birks turned in 11 kills and a match-high 15 digs for her 13th double-double of the season and the 55th of her career, while Bastianelli added seven kills and a team-high four blocks.
Poulter posted 34 assists in the win, while Donnelly registered 12 digs and senior Julia Conard added 10 on the night.
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