WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The No. 18 Illinois volleyball team earned its third-straight Big Ten Conference win and second-straight road victory as the Illini defeated No. 17 Purdue, 3-1 (28-30, 25-17, 25-14, 25-21) in Holloway Gymnasium on Sunday (October 6) to sweep their Indiana road swing.
Senior Jacqueline Quade led all players with 20 kills and a career-high 18 digs to register her 18th career double-double, while also notching four service aces and three blocks. Junior Megan Cooney continued her hot streak with a career-high-tying 19 kills on a .333 hitting percentage, with sophomore Mica Allison and senior Ashlyn Fleming each adding nine kills – with Allison's coming as a career-high mark.
Redshirt-freshman Diana Brown had another strong outing to post her eighth-career double-double with 51 assists and 13 digs to go along with a career-high five blocks.
The Illini had four players reach double figures in digs, with junior Morgan O'Brien and sophomore Taylor Kuper joining Quade and Brown with 12 and 11 digs, respectively.
It was also another strong match at the net, with freshman Kennedy Collins leading the charge with a career-high seven blocks and Fleming adding five stuffs in the win.
Despite dropping the opening set – 30-28 – after making a late-period comeback, the Illini continued their momentum into the second and jumped out to a 6-1 advantage that they would carry to a 25-17 set two win to even the score. From there, the Illini cruised to a 25-14 third set victory after hitting at a .345 clip, before finishing off a back-and-forth set four by breaking a 20-20 tie with a 5-1 run to take the set 25-21 for the 3-1 win.
The Illini return to Huff Hall for a two-match homestand this week as they host No. 7 Minnesota in a Big Ten Network match-up on Wednesday (October 9) at 8 p.m. CT, before facing off against Indiana for the second time in eight days on Saturday (October 12) at 7 p.m. CT.
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