Champaign, Ill. – For the second year in a row, the No. 8 Fighting Illini began the season with a perfect weekend, capturing three straight sweeps to claim the Illini Classic crown. After topping Miami (Ohio) earlier in the day, the Illini took down Creighton in straight sets (25-22, 25-20, 25-17) on Saturday night to open the year 3-0 without dropping a set. Creighton finished the weekend 1-2, placing third at the Classic.
"We played much lower error," said head coach Kevin Hambly. "Today's errors were because we were being aggressive as opposed to yesterday where we were spraying balls out of bounds and couldn't keep the ball on the court. I thought Jordyn took steps in the way we want her to go and that's exciting. I thought Creighton gave us their best and that pushed us, too."
Junior Michelle Strizak was crowned Most Valuable Player of the tournament after leading the Illini with a .448 attack percentage on the weekend, tallying 33 kills and just three errors while adding six digs and three blocks. She put on her best performance in the nightcap against Creighton, tying her career high with 15 kills (.433) .
Fellow pins Ali Stark and Jocelynn Birks joined her on the All-Tournament team, finishing the weekend with double-digit kills against Creighton, as Birks slammed 10 with two blocks and Stark hit .458 with 11 kills, five digs, three blocks, two assists and a service ace. The 11 kills were the most for Stark since posting a career high of 13 four times during her freshman year in 2012.
"I think me and Jordyn just worked on communicating and getting a better connection," said Birks. "I was more aggressive today than I was yesterday."
Jordyn Poulter gave the crowd of over 3,000 Illini fans a taste of her potential in the nightcap, posting her second straight double-double with 34 assists and 10 digs, while dumping four kills and stuffing a pair of solo blocks.
"They're both extremely vocal, you don't even realize they're freshmen," said Stark about Poulter and fellow freshman Ali Bastianelli, who had four blocks in the match. "They're still figuring things out, but they're constantly talking to us. And, I think Jordyn especially has done a really great job of running the offense and just motivating everybody to be aggressive."
"They're both really comfortable out there," Birks added. "They both know the game really well, their roles, and what they're supposed to do. They did a great job all weekend of running the offense and spreading things out; Jordyn got everyone involved, including the middle. Ali, she's figuring things out on the block and being really aggressive and not getting frustrated, which is hard for a middle coming in."
After stuffing just two blocks over the first two sets, the Illini front row exploded for seven stuffs in the third and final set, which provided the key to overcoming an early set deficit. Both of Poulter's solo stuffs were a part of that run, while Katie Stadick stuffed down three and Birks, Bastianelli and Stark each blocked two in the third.
"The tempo they were in was difficult for us," said Hambly. "It's always hard to play against fast-paced teams in the beginning. (Marysa) Wilkinson is pretty good; we had a rough time slowing her down, but once we got the hang of things we figured it out. They were fast, loose and pretty comfortable, even though we weren't as disciplined on the block, we got it all to work."
In the back row, Brandi Donnelly led the Illini with 15 digs, and Danielle Davis tallied an additional six.
Jaali Winters led the Bluejays with 13 kills and 12 digs, while Marysa Wilkinson hit .391 with 10 kills. Setter Kenzie Crawford neared a double-double with 31 assists and nine digs, and libero Kate Ellman had a team-best 13 digs.
Davis stepped behind the line to begin the first set and quickly spotted the Illini a 4-0 lead. A Stadick kill made it 8-4, but the Bluejays bounced back to tie the score at eight on two kills and a block by Kelsey O'Connell. A kill by Strizak put Illinois back ahead, 9-8, and the Orange and Blue would continue to lead for the remainder of the set, soon pulling ahead, 22-16. A kill by Stark made it Illini set point, and after two nullified chances, Stark did it again to hand the Illini the first set, 25-22.
Creighton led for much of the second set, opening the frame ahead 5-2 and maintaining that lead until back-to-back kills by Birks helped the Illini tie the score at 11. Creighton pushed back ahead, 14-12, but a kill by Birks gave the Illini the lead, 15-14, and the Orange and Blue never again trailed. A Strizak slam made it 22-18, and Stark finished off a long rally with a kill to give the Illini a 2-0 lead with a 25-20 win in set two.
The Illini came out flat to start the third set, soon finding themselves in a big 6-0 hole. However, a Stark-Stadick block energized the Orange and Blue and back-to-back kills by Poulter righted the ship. Kills by Strizak and Bastianelli helped the Illini tie the score at nine, and a monster run of blocks propelled the Illini ahead 18-12. Illinois continued to cruise, and Classic MVP Michelle Strizak finished off the weekend with a kill, as the Illini took the third, 25-17, to finish opening weekend a perfect 9-0 in sets.
The Illini hit the road next weekend to begin an unprecedented 12-match road stretch beginning in Happy Valley, where the Illini will take on No. 2 Stanford and No. 24 Colorado on Penn State's campus at the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge. Opening serve against Stanford is set for 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 4, and will be streamed live on BTN Plus on BTN2Go.
