ANN ARBOR, Mich. – In a back-and-forth match, the Fighting Illini volleyball team fell just short in a five-set (20-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-15, 13-15) battle to Michigan in Cliff Keen Arena on Saturday (November 11) night.

Sophomore Jacqueline Quade led all players with just her second 20-kill career match and totaled 21 kills on a .529 hitting percentage to pace the Illini (18-9, 9-7), while junior Jordyn Poulter registered her 19th career double-double and ninth of the season with a career-high 11 kills on a .529 hitting percentage, 52 assists, five digs and three blocks. Freshman Megan Cooney joined the duo in double figures with 10 kills and six blocks against the Wolverines (17-11, 7-9).

As a team, the Illini totaled 16 blocks to Michigan's 10, with Marysville, Michigan native Ali Bastianelli posting her seventh career double-digit block outing with a season-high 10 stuffs on the night.

Defensively, senior Brandi Donnelly led the Illini with 20 digs – her 31st career match with 20 digs or more.

Trailing 2-1 in the match, the Illini dominated the fourth set to force a fifth and final stanza. In a back-and-forth set that saw 13 ties, neither team had more than a point advantage until the Wolverines broke a 13-13 tie with a Katherine Mahlke kill, followed by a service ace for the 15-13 set win and 3-2 match victory.

The Wolverines jumped out to a quick 10-3 edge in the opening set, but the Illini fought back with four-straight points, including back-to-back Poulter and Bastianelli blocks to cut the lead to 13-11. Back-to-back UM points slowed the Illini rally, before a block from the home team pushed the score to 20-15. UI used a 4-1 run to close with 21-19 on a Bastianelli and Quade stuff, but the Wolverines returned the favor and finished off the first with a 4-1 run of their own for the 25-20 win.

It was the Illini with the hot start in the second as a Bastianelli kill made it 6-3 in favor of the visitors, but a 7-1 run from the Wolverines pushed the home team ahead at 10-7. After back-to-back kills gave UM a 12-8 edge, the Illini cut the advantage to one at 13-12 with two-straight Quade kills, before a Donnelly service ace knotted things at 15-15. UM answered back with three-straight points to go ahead at 18-15, but a 9-3 Illini run propelled the visitors to a 24-21 advantage, before a Quade kill gave the Illini the set at 25-22 and tied the match at 1-1.

In a tightly contested third set it was the Wolverines that held an early 11-8 edge, but the Illini came back as freshman Kylie Kuyava-Deberg came off the bench to tie the set at 15-15 with her second kill of the night. After UM pushed its edge back to 19-16, an ace from freshman Tyanna Omazic tied the score at 19-19 as the two teams sided out over the next several points. With the score knotted at 23-23, the Wolverines took the set and the 2-1 lead in the match with back-to-back points.

It was all Illini in the fourth with an early 5-2 lead, before the Wolverines came back to tie things at 6-6. A Prince kill gave the edge back to the Illini, which the visitors would not relinquish as an 11-3 run pushed the advantage to 20-10. UM cut the edge to 21-14 with a 4-1 run, but the Illini then scored four of the final five points for the 25-15 set victory to force a decisive fifth set.

The Illini return to Champaign for their final three-match homestand in Huff Hall this season, starting next weekend as the Orange and Blue host No. 10 Wisconsin on Friday (November 17) and No. 5 Minnesota on Saturday (November 18). First serve for both matches is set for 7 p.m. CT.

For more Fighting Illini volleyball news, stay tuned to FightingIllini.com and follow @IlliniVBall on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook.