CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Freshman Jacqueline Quade registered a match-high 14 kills on 30 swings for a .367 hitting percentage, but the No. 24 Fighting Illini volleyball fell to defending NCAA Champion and No. 1-ranked Nebraska, 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-21) on IlliNOISE Night at Huff Hall on Wednesday (Sept. 28).
The Illini faithful, which numbered over 2,900 fans including the full Marching Illini Band, helped set a new IlliNOISE Night sound record with a decibel reading of 112 dB in between the first and second sets.
With the setback, the Illini snap their seven-match win streak and move to 9-5 and 2-1 in the Big Ten Conference. The Huskers improve to 12-0 and 3-0 in the league to push their NCAA-leading win streak to 28 matches.
"I thought at times we played well," said head coach Kevin Hambly. "We just couldn't sustain a level with them yet. We hit .257 in the third set and at one point we were both hitting .324. I thought offensively we did some nice things; it was just defensively we didn't execute. The first thing is service-wise. They are a very good passing team. It was tough for us to get through their system and they really got going in the middle of the court and that put a lot of pressure on us. We tried to get out of it, kind of had a little bit of a scramble, but I thought we played really well at times, but at times couldn't sustain it with them, not at the level that they can play."
Following an early 2-2 tie in the opening set, the Huskers sprinted ahead with a 9-1 run, including seven-straight points to take an 11-3 lead. An ace by sophomore Ali Bastianelli closed the gap to 12-7 midway through, but another five-straight points from Nebraska pushed the edge to 18-8. Continuing to fight, the Illini closed within 21-17 as a block from Bastianelli and senior Naya Crittenden capped a 9-3 run. The Huskers then responded by taking the next four of five points for the first set win.
In the second stanza, the Huskers continued where they left off and jumped out to a 4-1 advantage, but the Illini came back to even the score at 5-5 on a service ace from freshman Caroline Welsh. The set would see four more ties before the Illini used a 5-1 run to take a 14-10 lead following a Quade and Bastianelli block. After Nebraska knotted things at 17-17, three-straight points from the visitors gave them a 20-17 advantage. The Illini closed within 23-22 on a Quade kill, but back-to-back UI errors gave the Huskers a 2-0 lead in the match.
Out of the break, it was a back-and-forth affair as neither team could build a significant lead until the Huskers grabbed a four-point edge at 16-12 following a block from Amber Rolfzen and Kelly Hunter. Nebraska continued to hold its four-point lead at 22-18, but the Illini battled back to 23-21 with the next three of four points, including kills from Quade and senior Michelle Strizak. Despite the Illini comeback, the Huskers then finished off the match with back-to-back points.
Joining Quade with double figure kills was Strizak with 10 on the night, while classmate Katie Stadick added seven on 14 attacks and only two errors for a .357 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Jordyn Poulter posted 32 assists, with junior Brandi Donnelly registering 14 digs in the match.
Bastianelli notched five blocks, with Quade and Crittenden contributing three each.
The Illini next open a three-match road swing, first heading to College Park, Md., to take on Maryland in a 12 p.m. CT match on Sunday (Oct. 2) in the XFINITY Center.
