MADISON, Wis. – The No.7 Illinois volleyball team used a complete team effort – highlighted by junior Jacqueline Quade's career-high 26 kills – to earn a come-from-behind 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 35-33, 25-23) win over No. 8 Wisconsin on Saturday (October 13) night in the UW Field House. It was the first Illini win over the Badgers since 2013 when the Illini also notched a 3-1 win in Madison.
Senior Ali Bastianelli and sophomore Megan Cooney joined Quade in double figures with 11 kills each, with Bastianelli posting a .476 hitting percentage for the Illini (16-3, 5-3 B1G).
Senior Jordyn Poulter registered her 32nd career double-double and ninth of the season with 55 assists and 13 digs, while leading the Illini to a .220 team attack percentage.
As a team, the Illini totaled 15 blocks, with junior Ashlyn Fleming pacing with a match-high nine stuffs, with Bastianelli posting six blocks, moving her within two blocks of former Illini Johannah Bangert's career record. Poulter, Quade and Cooney also added four blocks on the night.
UI totaled eight service aces for their ninth match with seven or more aces, with Poulter and Fleming leading with three each.
Defensively, sophomore Morgan O'Brien tied a career-high with 24 digs, with Quade adding nine in the win.
The Illini took an early 6-3 lead in the opener on a Bastianelli and Poulter block, but four-straight Badger points pushed the home team to a 7-6 advantage. From there it was a back-and-forth set as neither team had more than a two-point edge until the Badgers – with the Illini holding a 15-14 lead - used a 7-1 run to go ahead 21-16. The visitors answered back with four of the next five points to pull within 22-20, but a pair of UW scores set up set point at 24-21. The Illini fought off a pair of set points to close the gap to 24-23, but a Dana Rettke kill sealed the 25-23 set win.
A Quade kill gave the Illini a quick 4-1 advantage in the second, before the visitors pushed their lead to 11-6 on a Fleming and Cooney block. After back-to-back Fleming aces put the Illini up at 14-8, the Badgers closed within 14-11 on three-straight points, but UI responded with a 6-1 run – including three points on the Quade serve - to take a 20-12 lead. The Illini continued to lead at 23-17 following back-to-back UW errors, but three-straight points from the home team brought them within 23-20. The Illini then tied up the match after trading off points until a Fleming kill finished off the 25-21 second set.
With the match tied at 1-1, the third proved to be the tightest with 16 ties and five lead changes. After an early 7-3 edge for the Badgers, the Illini came back to take an 11-9 lead on a Poulter ace and held a two-point advantage on six occasions, before the home team knotted the score at 20-20. The Illini set up set point at 24-22 with four Quade scores, but the Badgers fought off three Illini set points en route to earning a set point of their own at 26-25. The Illini continued to battle as they killed off eight-straight UW set points – with kills from Quade saving six set points – until the junior teamed with Fleming for a block for the fourth UI set point and converted her 13th kill of the period for the 35-33 set three win.
Back-to-back kills from Bastianelli and Poulter and a UW hitting error gave the Illini an early 7-3 advantage in the fourth, before the Badgers came back to tie things at 7-7. Four-straight points from the visitors then broke a 12-12 tie, but back-to-back Wisconsin points closed the gap to 16-14 midway through the set. The Badgers kept their deficit within two until a 4-1 run pushed the Illini lead to 23-18. The Badgers battled back with four-straight point to close within 23-22, before a Cooney kill set up match point and Bastianelli sealed the 25-23 set and the 3-1 victory with a kill.
Illinois next returns to Huff Hall to host Michigan and Michigan State next weekend, taking on the Wolverines on Friday (October 19) and the Spartans on Saturday (October 20). Both matches are set for a 7 p.m. CT first serve.
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