CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 17 Illinois volleyball team wasted little time in dispatching Indiana on Saturday (October 12) night in Huff Hall as the Illini needed just an hour and 15 minutes – similar to the Illini's win in Bloomington just eight days ago – to earn the straight-sets win (25-10, 25-13, 25-14) and secure the season sweep of the Hoosiers.
It was a full team effort offensively for the Illini (9-6, 4-2 B1G), with senior Jacqueline Quade pacing the team with a match-high nine kills, while junior Megan Cooney added eight and senior Ashlyn Fleming and sophomore Mica Allison each posted seven kills on the night.
Redshirt-freshman Diana Brown handed out 31 assists en route to leading the Illini to a season-high .423 team hitting percentage to go along with a match-high nine digs.
The Illini totaled nine service aces on the night, with Brown, Quade and junior Morgan O'Brien each tallying two.
Defensively, the Illini held the Hoosiers (12-7, 1-5 B1G) to a -.024 team attack clip, with Fleming and Allison leading the charge at the net with four and three blocks, respectively.
The Illini jumped out quickly with a Brown kill making it 12-4 in the opening set and never looked back as seven-unanswered points pushed the lead to 20-6, before a Cooney kill sealed the 25-10 winner in the opener. In a more competitive start to the second, the Illini led at 9-7 before using a 12-3 run to pull ahead at 21-10 and finished off the second with a kill from redshirt-senior Beth Prince. The third started similarly to the second with the Illini holding a two-point edge at 11-9, before going on a 9-3 run to take a 20-12 advantage. The two teams then traded scores as a kill from freshman Rylee Hinton sent the Illini to victory with a kill.
The Illini next open a three-match road swing – one of the toughest of the season – as they travel to Madison, Wis., for meeting with No. 7 Wisconsin on Friday (October 18), before heading to Minneapolis, Minn., for a Saturday (October 19) night match against No. 6 Minnesota. UI then wraps up its trip with a midweek match against No. 8 Penn State in University Park, Pa., on Wednesday, October 23.
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