Hambly Radio Interview | Highlights
MADISON, Wis. – In the first meeting of the season between the pair of Big Ten foes, seventh-ranked Illinois fell to No. 19 Wisconsin at the UW Field House in a four-set contest televised by BTN. Wisconsin, previously without a victory in league play, gave the Orange and Blue crew their first Big Ten loss. Illinois is now 11-3 overall and 2-1 in the conference while the Badgers improved to 9-4 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten.
"We were playing very passively to start the match," opened head coach Kevin Hambly. "We weren't attacking; we fixed that as play went on, but they [Wisconsin] certainly scrapped and fought, so it's not that big of a surprise to me (the loss). I wish we would have came out a bit more aggressively."
Illinois opened the scoring in the Wednesday-night matchup but the hosts would stick close, forcing ties at the first three points. Wisconsin won three-straight points to open a 5-3 lead that the Badgers would not relinquish. Illinois was able to stick around through the first half of the frame but the defending Big Ten champions would work out to an 18-10 lead, despite never stringing together more than three points at a time.
Coach Hambly made use of the video replay green card in the opening set, as he challenged the call that a Jocelynn Birks attack was out of bounds. The call was overturned and Birks was awarded one of her 20 kills in the contest. While the Illini were able to string together three points of their own, the Badgers were out of reach and claimed the opener 25-16.
The first set loss ended a program-record 13-straight wins in the first set to open the season. In 1986, Illinois won it's first 10 sets of the season for the second-best mark in program history.
Set two of the contest featured six ties and a trio of lead changes. Birks found the floor on a swing from the back row to give the Orange and Blue a 5-3 lead, but Wisconsin took the next six points. With the hosts leading 15-11, Illinois called a timeout and came out of the break on a five-point run to retake the lead at 16-15 and force a Badger stoppage. UW came out of the break and claimed the next three points for the final lead-change of the frame. Wisconsin took a 2-0 lead in the match with the 25-21 second set victory.
Birks opened set three with another kill to get Illinois on the scoreboard first in a thrilling third set. UI would go down 4-2 to the hosts early, but fought back and knotted the frame at 5-5. Hanging around, Illinois was within a single tally at the 12-11 mark and knotted the contest at 14. Third set action saw 11 ties and six lead changes, with the final knot coming at 20-20 before Illinois would claim the frame 25-21. Birks tallied seven kills in the third frame alone.
Fourth set action picked up right where the third left off as the sides traded the first five points. UI led for much of the set and held a 14-9 advantage midway through. Wisconsin battled back to tie the contest at 15, but Illinois claimed the next point off of a Michelle Strizak kill. Two-straight Badger kills gave the hosts a lead they wouldn't surrender. With match point at 19-24, Illinois fought back and denied a trio of match-ending points for the Badgers off the serve of Birks. UW held on to take the set 25-22 in front of a home crowd of 4,254 at the UW Field House.
Birks finished with her fourth double-double of the season after a 20-kill, 12-dig performance in her return to action with the Fighting Illini after sitting out the opening weekend of league play. The outing was Birks' first 20-kill match of the season and the 28th of her career.
"That's what we were hoping for," said Hambly of Birks returning to action tonight. "We were able to get her healthy and keep her out there and she made some big plays for us."
Brandi Donnelly tallied 21 digs in the contest to post her fourth 20-dig performance of the season, and the 14th of her career.
On the offensive side, Katie Stadick contributed 13 kills in addition to 10 by Strizak. Ali Stark added seven of her own to go along with four digs and 30 receptions without error.
Freshman setter Jordyn Poulter assisted 50 of Illinois' 56 kills on the night. Poulter also added an ace, six digs and three block assists. Danielle Davis added 10 digs of her own in the contest.
On the block, Stadick led the Illinois squad with five block assists in addition to Ali Bastianelli tallying four more. Strizak added a trio of block assists to go along with the only solo block in the match.
Illinois will return to action in three days, on Saturday, Oct. 3. The contest in Minnesota will mark the end of the Fighting Illini's five-week, six-trip stretch on the road. The Big Ten action will be aired on BTN Plus with the first serve going up at 7 p.m.
"It'll be nice to get home, but we've got a tough Minnesota team ahead of us still," Hambly said. "We'll have our hands full with them and I'm sure it will be a great environment up there, and a great test."
