CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 24 Illinois volleyball team opened its four-match home stand in dominating fashion as the Illini swept No. 14 Michigan State, 3-0 (25-21, 32-30, 25-19), on Wednesday night (Oct. 12) at Huff Hall.
With the win, the Illini improve to 12-6 and 5-2 in the Big Ten Conference, while the Spartans drop to 15-4 and 4-3 in the league standings.
"They [the Illini players] really did a good job staying moment to moment and then getting on and focusing on what was in front of them," said head coach Kevin Hambly. "I thought that was how we finished it the way we did, because they were able to do that. That is a challenge, when you get up and feel comfortable and I think in the past we have just kind of let it go, but they did a really nice job tonight, the best job we have done all night of being moment-to-moment."
"Something we talked about before the match was not making the same mistake twice," said sophomore setter Jordyn Poulter. "I think there was a lot of regret after the Wisconsin match about executing when we were up, so we had every intention on every pass and every detail was there [tonight]."
The Illini used a balanced attack as five Illini had 17 swings or more on the night. As a team, the Illini registered a .319 hitting percentage for the match, including a .419 mark in the opening set and a .357 clip in the third.
Senior Naya Crittenden paced the Illini for the second-straight match with a match-high 12 kills on 20 swings and only three errors for a .450 hitting percentage, while sophomore Ali Bastianelli turned in 11 kills on 17 attacks and only two errors for a .529 clip. Freshman Jacqueline Quade added 10 kills on 23 swings and only three errors for a .304 hitting percentage.
"If you look at the numbers, we had 25 swings for Michelle Strizak, we had 17 for Ali Bastianelli and she hit .529; Naya had 20, 23 for Katie, 23 for Jackie. We have not had this kind of balance since I have been here, ever. When you have that type of balance on offense it makes it more difficult to defend."
"Our passers worked extremely hard in their movements and their communication which made it really easy for me to run the offense and distribute it and it was fun to watch them enjoy passing," added Poulter.
In a back-and-forth first stanza that saw 12 ties and four lead changes, neither team grabbed more than a two-point advantage until the Illini broke a 16-16 tie with three-straight points bookended by a pair Crittenden kills. The Spartans closed with 21-20 with three-straight points of their own, but UI finished off the set by scoring the next four of five points for the 25-21 win.
MSU jumped out quickly in the second and build a 4-1 lead after scoring the first three points in the frame. The Illini battled back to knot things at 8-8 on a Spartan hitting error and then used a 6-2 run to take a 15-11 edge midway through the set. MSU fought back to within one at 15-14, but three-straight points stalled the Spartan rally. Leading by five at 23-18, the Illini looked to close out the second set, but MSU orchestrated a dramatic comeback with six-straight points to set up its first set at 24-23. After a Crittenden kill tied the score at 24-24, the two teams battled back-and-forth for the second set victory with the Illini fighting off four Spartan set points and finally converting their third set point at 31-30 with a kill from senior Michelle Strizak.
The 32-30 second stanza score was the highest set total since the 2014 season when the Illini took a 35-33 win in the opening set against Virginia Tech on September 13.
Following a 4-4 tie in the third, the Illini put together four-straight points for an early 8-4 advantage. The Spartans closed within three twice, at 10-7 and 13-10, but a 6-1 run gave UI control of the set at 19-11. Four-straight points late in the period from the Spartans made it a 22-18 game, but the Illini then shut the door on MSU by taking the next three of four points as a Crittenden sealed the straight-sets victory.
"We really just fought and went after it," said Crittenden. "It was, I agree comparable to that set [the second set at Wisconsin]; we were up a little bit and they came back but we really grinded that out and I think everyone did a really great job with just putting it all on the court and I am just really happy we were able to finish that and everyone had the right mindset and intentions for that."
Poulter orchestrated the Illini offense with 49 assists on the night, while adding four blocks in the win.
Senior Katie Stadick led the Orange and Blue with five blocks, with junior Brandi Donnelly totaling a match-high 17 digs.
Along with its offensive prowess, the Illini defense held the Spartans to just a .145 hitting percentage, including holding MSU to sub-.120 numbers in the second and third sets.
Illinois continues its home stand with a rematch against Northwestern on Saturday (Oct. 15) night at 7 p.m. CT in Huff Hall.
