SEATTLE – The 2017 Illinois volleyball team is no stranger to five-set matches and Saturday (December 2) night was no different as the Illini earned a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the eighth time in 10 years with a gritty, come-from-behind five-set (25-22, 17-25, 20-25, 25-17, 15-9) victory over host and No. 8 seed Washington in Alaska Airlines Arena.
With the win, the Illini (23-10) earn the program's 17th Sweet 16 appearances in program history and the first for head coach Chris Tamas and will next meet a familiar foe in Big Ten member Michigan State in the NCAA Regional semifinals on Friday (December 8) at Recreation Hall on the campus of Penn State in State College, Pa.
"My voice is out right now because I spent half the match cheering for these guys," said Tamas. "Again, just another gutty win and something we have been used to all year. We have really come together a lot over the season. Both tonight's match and last night's match are great examples of just coming through and playing hard. It would have been easy for us to go away, they were serving tough. We took a time out at 13-10 in the fourth period and just decided that we weren't going away, we need to crank it up on our side and just make sure that we are taking it one point at a time and not get caught up with what had happened previously. I thought we did that well and hats off to both teams for playing as hard as they did. We saw some really good volleyball this weekend and are happy to come out on top."
Sophomore Jacqueline Quade was one of three Illini with double figure kills with a team-high 17 kills, while freshman Megan Cooney added 13 and redshirt-sophomore Beth Prince turned in 12 on the night.
Junior Jordyn Poulter registered her third-straight double-double – the 23rd of her career and 13th of the season – with 49 assists and 11 digs, while also adding seven kills on a .462 hitting percentage and directing the offense to a .287 team attack percentage.
The Illini block was strong again with 13 blocks to UW's nine, with junior Ali Bastianelli leading the way with eight stuffs and Quade notching six in the win.
Defensively, senior Brandi Donnelly totaled a team-high 16 digs, with freshman Morgan O'Brien adding 12 digs.
"It is just so cool to see this team put in all their effort into every point," the Wiliamsville, Ill., native said. "It is by far the most fun team I have played with these four years and it is just so cool to see us work hard every day and see that hard work result in some success too."
Saturday night marked the ninth five-setter of the season and third-straight for the Illini as four-straight points broke a 2-2 tie early in the decisive set with a service ace from Caroline Welsh putting UI ahead at 6-2. After another ace from Bastianelli pushed the advantage to 10-4, a block from Cooney and freshman Tyanna Omazic made the score 12-5. Three-straight points from the Huskies then closed the lead to four at 12-8, but the Illini finished it out with three of the next four points as a Cooney kill sealed the 15-9 fifth set win and sent the Illini into the second weekend of postseason play. The Illini were strong in the end and with the score tied at 16-16 in the fourth, they reeled off 24 of the last 34 points in the match.
After back-to-back Poulter kills broke a 4-4 tie early in the opening set, the Illini pushed the lead to 8-5 following a Bastianelli service ace. The Huskies closed within two at 9-7, but Illinois responded with a 7-2 run to take a 16-9 edge on a Quade kill. UW kept it close with back-to-back points, but a Cooney kill sandwiched between two Prince kills brought the lead back to 21-15. UW again answered with four-straight points to cut the edge to 21-19, before an Omazic kill stalled the rally. Back-to-back Cooney kills then set up set point and after UW fought off two set points, a Quade kill finished off the 25-22 set.
The Illini jumped out quickly in the second en route to a 5-1 lead behind three blocks from Quade and Bastianelli. UW came right back, using a 7-2 run to take its first lead at 9-8. The Huskies continued to hold a small lead, before a Cooney kill tied things at 11-11 and again at 14-14 following a Prince kill. UW then grabbed control of the stanza with a 9-2 run for a 23-16 advantage, before evening things with a 25-17 set win.
The Huskies scored the first two points of the third, but the Illini quickly tied things at 4-4. From there, the two teams went back-and-forth until the Huskies used a 5-1 run to take a 15-11 advantage. Back-to-back kills from Poulter and Prince slowed the UW momentum as the Illini stayed within two points until the Huskies took a 21-17 lead on a 3-1 mini run. UI answered back with three-straight points – capped by a Poulter dump – to close within one at 21-20, but UW the finished off the 25-20 set with four-straight points to take a 2-1 advantage in the match.
Using a quick 4-1 start to the fourth, the Huskies built an 8-4 advantage, but a Poulter ace brought the Illini within two at 8-6. UI continued to stay close until Bastianelli and Prince combined for a block to knot the score at 13-13. With the score tied at 16-16, the Illini broke the stanza wide open with eight unanswered points for the 23-16 edge, before a double hit called on the Huskies tied the match at 2-2 with the 25-17 set victory.
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