COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Ninth-ranked Illinois volleyball opened Big Ten conference play on the road in College Park, Maryland, in front of a packed XFINITY Pavilion as the Orange and Blue swept Maryland to climb to 10-2 on the fall season. The conference-opener for both sides was aired live on BTN. With the loss, Maryland moved to 10-5 on the season and 0-1 in league play.
Illinois opened the first set by moving out to a 6-1 lead and never looked back as they remained perfect in opening frames this season at 12-0. The Fighting Illini put up the first three points in the contest and opened up an 8-2 lead to force the first Terrapin timeout of the evening. Maryland called for stop number two at 19-10 in favor of the Orange and Blue, but Illinois was able to push ahead and took the set by a 25-15 final. Katie Stadick posted five block assists in the opening frame alone.
After Maryland grabbed the two points of the second set, UI claimed the next four points to account for the only tie and lead change in the contest. The Terrapins pulled within three points as far into the set as 9-6, but Illinois worked with a score double that of the hosts for most of the set. The Fighting Illini held Maryland to a negative hitting percentage for the second-straight set en route to another 25-15 set victory.
The third set opened with Illinois jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead and pushing it to a 5-1 mark. However, Maryland fired back and pulled within two at the 10-8 point, but an Ali Stark kill began a UI dominated run to push ahead to a 15-10 advantage at the media timeout. Maryland used timeouts at the 18-12 and 23-15 points but the Fighting Illini couldn't be stopped and won the final set by a mark of 25-17.
UI posted a well-balanced attack with five hitters registering six or more kills in the three-set contest. Stadick led the Orange and Blue with 10 kills on 20 attacks for a .450 hitting percentage. Stadick also finished with seven blocking assists on the night. Stark tallied eight kills on 12 swings and added eight digs while both Katie Roustio and Ali Bastianelli each tallied seven kills. Michelle Strizak contributed six kills off of 14 swings in an errorless effort in addition to a trio of block assists.
In her Big Ten opener, Jordyn Poulter continued to show her talent as the freshman recorded 34 assists, four digs, a solo block, four block assists and two attacks for a pair of kills.
With just eight hitting errors in the match, Illinois posted a team hitting percentage of .390, which included a .531 effort in the final stanza.
Nine of the 10 Illinois players that saw action registered a dig in the match, with eight Illini tallying two or more. For the first time this season an Illini other than Brandi Donnelly had the highest dig tally. Julia Conard and Danielle Davis each finished with nine digs in the contest, while Donnelly and Stark added eight of their own.
Looking to pick up its second conference win in as many nights, Illinois will travel to Piscataway, New Jersey, to continue the East Coast road trip to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Action starts at 6 p.m. CT, from College Ave. Gymnasium.
