CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 8 Illinois volleyball team opened its 2018 home schedule with a straight-sets (25-13, 26-24, 25-21) sweep of Northern Iowa in its opening match of the 34th Annual Illini Classic on Friday (September 14) evening in Huff Hall.
The Illini move to 9-0 with their four-straight straight-sets victory and have now won 21 of their last 22 home openers.
Junior Jacqueline Quade paced the Illini with 15 kills on a .333 hitting percentage – including 10 in the third set, while sophomore Megan Cooney joined her in double figures with 10 kills on a .400 attack clip.
As a team, the Illini hit at a .287 clip as senior Jordyn Poulter became just the fourth-ever Illini player to reach 4,000 career assists with 39 helpers on the night. Poulter sits in fourth place all-time with 4,004 career assists.
Defensively, sophomore Morgan O'Brien posted her fourth-straight match with 16 digs, while senior Ali Bastianelli let the block attack with four stuffs, while adding a season-high three service aces. Freshman Taylor Kuper added two aces on the night.
The Illini jumped out to an early 7-2 advantage following a UNI (6-5) attack error, before pushing their lead to 16-5 with seven-straight points, bookended by kills from redshirt-junior Beth Prince. A Bastianelli kill made it 20-10, before UI wrapped up the first at 25-13 with a Bastianelli ace and a Panther error.
It was a back-and-forth start to the second, but holding a one-point lead at 10-9, the Illini gained separation with four-straight points capped by a Poulter ace, en route to an 8-1 run to take control at 18-10 on a Kuper ace. Despite the lead, the Panthers fought back with an 8-2 run of their own to knot the score at 24-24. Quade then answered the challenge with back-to-back kills for the 26-24 set win and the 2-0 advantage in the match.
It was all UNI to open the third as the visitors grabbed an earlier 8-2 lead, but Illinois battled back to tie things up at 13-13 on a Cooney kill. From there, the set saw five ties until the Orange and Blue notched back-to-back scores on the serve of Kuper for the 21-19 edge. The Panthers closed within 22-21, but three-straight points – including a pair of Quade kills – sealed the win with the 25-21 set three victory.
Illinois continues play at the Illini Classic on Saturday (September 15) with a 12 p.m. CT match against Lipscomb, before a top-10 showdown with No. 10 Creighton at 7 p.m. To purchase tickets or for more information, click HERE.
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