CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 7 Illinois volleyball team battled on Wednesday (October 3) night in Huff Hall, before falling to No. 6 Wisconsin, 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 23-25, 18-25) in a midweek Big Ten Conference match-up.
Junior Jacqueline Quade led the Illini (14-2, 3-2 B1G) with 18 kills and nine digs on the night, with redshirt-junior Beth Prince adding 12 kills and senior Ali Bastianelli posting nine kills on a .316 hitting percentage.
Senior Jordyn Poulter handed out 44 assists to go along with seven digs, two blocks and two aces.
Junior Ashlyn Fleming registered a team-high three blocks, while Bastianelli also notched two stuffs on the night to move within two blocks of tying former Illini Johannah Bangert for the program record of 653 total blocks.
Defensively, sophomore Morgan O'Brien registered a team-high 14 digs in the match, with junior Caroline Welsh turning 11 digs.
Back-to-back aces from Quade gave the Illini a fast start at 5-2 in the opening set, before Poulter and Bastianelli combined on a block for a 14-9 advantage. After a pair of kills from Prince and Quade pushed the edge to 17-12, the Badgers responded with back-to-back scores to cut the lead to three at 22-19. Prince answered back with a kill as the two teams traded points until the redshirt-junior finished off the 25-21 set win for the Illini with a kill.
Holding an early one-point advantage in the second, the Illini strung three-straight points to take an 8-4 edge on a Poulter and Fleming stuff, before using four-straight points to build a 14-7 lead midway through the set. The Badgers then used a 13-3 run to grab a 20-17 lead. The Illini pulled within one at 21-20 on a UW hitting error, but three-straight scores from the visitors tied the match at 1-1.
The Illini opened the third with the set's first three points – including back-to-back aces from freshman Taylor Kuper en route to a 10-6 advantage. UI continued to hold the lead as three-unanswered points – capped by a Poulter kill on an overpass – gave the home team a 16-11 edge. UW battled back with five-straight points of its own to knot the score at 16-16, before back-to-back Fleming kills broke a 17-17 tie and put the Illini ahead 19-17. After the Badgers responded with a 4-1 run to retake a 21-20 lead, the two teams sided out for three ties, before UW scored on back-to-back kills at 23-23 to take the third, 25-23, and a 2-1 advantage in the match.
After the Badgers jumped out to an early 7-4 advantage on an ace, the Illini closed to within one at 14-13 on a Prince kill. UW again pushed its lead to three on three separate occasions, before a Quade put the Illini within two at 20-18, but five-straight points from the Badgers gave the visitors the 25-18 set win and the 3-1 victory in the match.
Illinois next wraps up its four-match homestand on Saturday (October 6) night as the Illini welcome in Northwestern for a 7 p.m. CT contest in Huff Hall.
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