CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Behind a team effort and standout performances from juniors Ali Bastianelli and Jordyn Poulter and redshirt-sophomore Beth Prince, the Fighting Illini volleyball team earned a season sweep of Indiana with a 3-1 (22-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-22) victory on Saturday (October 7) night at Huff Hall.
Bastianelli led all players with 16 kills on 30 attempts and no errors for a .533 hitting percentage to go along with a match-high seven blocks, while Prince turned in 15 kills on the night.
Poulter quarterbacked the Illini offense to a .322 hitting percentage – including registering over a .300 attack clip in the final three sets - and came within three blocks of the program's 13th triple-double with 47 assists, 12 digs and seven blocks – all match-highs.
Sophomore Jacqueline Quade joined Bastianelli and Prince in double figures with 11 kills, while defensively, sophomores Caroline Welsh and Annika Gereau and freshman Morgan O'Brien reached double-digit digs with Welsh and O'Brien totaling 12 and Gereau adding 10.
The Illini (13-4, 4-2) raced out to a 7-1 lead – capped by a Quade ace - to open the first set and pushed the advantage to 11-3 on a kill from freshman Tyanna Omazic, but the Hoosiers (11-7, 0-6) responded with a 20-7 run, including stretches of six-straight points on two occasions to grab a 23-18 lead late in the set. Trailing by four at 24-20, the Illini fought off two set points before IU finish the opener with a kill.
It was a tight second set with 16 ties and neither team grabbing more that a three-point advantage, until a Quade service ace broke a 25-25 tie and was then followed by an IU attack attempt that went long to give the Illini the 27-25 set win and knot the match at 1-1.
After taking an early 8-5 lead in the third on a Quade kill, the Illini pushed the edge to 14-9 on a block from Poulter and junior Blayke Hranicka. An Indiana overpass then resulted in an Hranicka kill and a 17-11 Illini lead, but the Hoosiers rallied to cut the deficit to two at 22-20 on an UI attack error, but back-to-back Prince kills combined with a Prince and Hranicka stuff sealed the third set, 25-20.
It was all Illini to start the fourth as a Poulter and Bastianelli block put the home team up 9-3, before the Hoosiers closed within one at 14-13 on a 6-1 run. A Prince kill again pushed the Illini advantage to four at 20-16, but three-straight Hoosier points cut the lead to one at 20-19. Illinois cooled the comeback with three-straight points of their own for set point at 24-20 and after IU fought two set points, a Hoosier serve into the net finished off the fourth set victory and the 3-1 Illini win.
As a team, the Illini outblocked the Hoosiers, 11 to seven, and held their opponents to a .264 hitting percentage.
The Illini wrap up their four-match homestand next weekend in Huff Hall when they welcome in Ohio State in a BTN-televised match on Friday (October 13) at 8 p.m. CT, before facing off against Maryland on Saturday at 7 p.m.
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