CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 25 Illinois volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (15-25, 22-25, 18-25) decision to No. 8 Penn State on illiNOISE Night at Huff Hall on Friday (November 15) night.
The Illini (12-12, 7-8 B1G) were paced by senior Jacqueline Quade with 11 kills and two service aces, with redshirt-senior Beth Prince adding eight kills on the night.
Redshirt-freshman Diana Brown handed out 30 assists, while freshman Kennedy Collins put up two blocks to lead the team.
Defensively, junior Morgan O'Brien registered her second-straight 20-dig outing and seventh of the season with a match-high 24 digs – coming within in one dig of a season-high.
After a slow start that saw the Nittany Lions (20-4, 13-2 B1G) take the opener, 25-15, the Illini battled in the second, coming back from a 16-10 deficit early in the set to close within two at 19-17 on back-to-back Prince kills and a bad PSU set. The Illini would get within two on four more occasions, before the visitors took the second, 25-22.
It was a back-and-forth start to the set with a Prince kill knotting the score at 9-9, but the Nittany Lions used a 7-2 run to build a 16-11 advantage. Back-to-back kills from Quade and Prince cut the PSU lead to three at 18-15, but the visitors would stall the rally with three unanswered points to go on for the 25-18 third set win and the 3-0 victory.
The Illini continue their two-match homestand on Saturday (November 16), hosting 80's Night against Rutgers at 7 p.m. CT in Huff Hall.
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