SEATTLE – The No. 11 Illinois volleyball team put together a complete team effort on Saturday (September 1) night en route to an undefeated Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge weekend with a 3-1 (25-18, 25-20, 22-25, 25-22) victory over No. 13 Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena.
The Illini move to 5-0 on the season after securing their third top-25 win of the year over the Huskies (3-1) and swept their matches at the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge for the first time in the tournament's history. Junior Jacqueline Quade was named Tournament MVP after totaling 31 kills for a 4.43 kills per set average on a .333 attack percentage, while also notching eight digs, seven blocks and two service aces. Seniors Jordyn Poulter and Ali Bastianelli joined her on the All-Tournament Team.
Quade registered a team-high 18 kills on a .357 hitting percentage and four blocks on the night, with redshirt-junior Beth Prince adding 13 kills and sophomore Megan Cooney turning in 11 kills on a .348 hitting percentage.
As a team, the Illini posted a .356 attack percentage for the match, including hitting over .400 in the second and third sets. Poulter guided the offense with 50 assists, while also contributing seven kills on a .600 hitting clip, seven blocks and five digs. The senior owned a 12.14 assists per set mark for the tournament with 85 total assists to lead the Illini to a .304 hitting percentage for the two matches, while also totaling 12 digs, 11 blocks, nine kills on a .278 attack clip and an ace.
The Illini dominated the block with 15 stuffs to the Huskies' five, with junior Ashlyn Fleming pacing the squad with eight blocks. Bastianelli added seven stuffs to go along with nine kills on a .353 hitting percentage. The third Illini on the All-Tournament Team, Bastianelli tallied 15 kills on a team-high .429 attack percentage on the weekend, while adding a team-high 13 stuffs.
Defensively, sophomore Morgan O'Brien recorded a match-high 17 digs, with junior Caroline Welsh adding nine in the win
The two teams traded points early, before back-to-back kills from Quade and Cooney gave the Illini an early 12-9 edge. The Huskies closed within one at 12-11, but a 6-1 run from the visitors – including two kills each from Prince and Bastianelli and a pair of blocks - to go ahead 18-12 midway through the first. Each team then traded runs of three-straight points to set up set point at 24-16 with UW fighting off two points, before a Quade finished off the 25-18 set one win.
The Illini continued their strong play to start the second and used three-straight points to gain some separation for a quick 9-5 advantage. From there, the Orange and Blue built a 19-8 lead on a 9-3 run finished off with a Quade kill. Despite the deficit, the home team battled back to cut the Illini lead to two at 21-19, but UI answered back to take the next four of five points for the 2-0 advantage in the match.
After the Illini scored the first three points of the third, a Quade ace made it 6-2 in favor of the visitors early. UW responded with three-straight points to knot things at 6-6 as both teams sided out over the next several points, before a Husky run put the home team up 14-10. UW continued to hold the edge as the Illini battled back to within a point on five occasions, but back-to-back scores gave UW the 25-22 set win and pushed the match to the fourth.
In a back-and-forth fourth frame that saw 13 ties and five lead changes, the Illini were the first to grab momentum with a 15-11 advantage following four-straight UI points. The Huskies then stormed back with five-straight scores of their own to retake the lead at 17-16. After three more ties, the Illini grabbed back-to-back kills from Fleming and Quade for the 21-19 edge - a lead that the Orange and Blue would not relinquish as a UW serve sailed long for match point at 25-22.
The Illini continue its nonconference tournament road swing next weekend as they travel to Cleveland, Ohio, for the CSU Invitational II, hosted by Cleveland State on September 7-8.
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