IOWA CITY, Iowa – The No. 21 Illinois volleyball team earned its second-straight sweep, taking a 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-15) victory over Iowa on Wednesday (November 6) night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Illini (12-10, 7-6 B1G) were paced by junior Megan Cooney with a match-high 17 kills on a season-high .667 hitting percentage after committing just one error in 24 swings. Joining her in double figures was senior Jacqueline Quade with 10 kills, with sophomore Mica Allison adding nine kills on a .571 attack clip.
Redshirt-freshman Diana Brown led the offense to a .323 team hitting percentage after passing out 40 assists to go along with a pair of blocks.
Defensively, junior Morgan O'Brien tallied a match-high 13 digs, with junior Taylor Kuper turning in 10 digs to go along with a career-high tying five aces.
After an ace from senior Caroline Welsh opened the match, the Illini jumped out to an early 7-3 edge following a Kuper service ace. The Hawkeyes (9-15, 3-10 B1G) would close within one on two occasions, but back-to-back Cooney kills and another ace from O'Brien stalled the rally as the Illini went on to take the first, 25-18.
In a closer second set that saw 11 ties and two lead changes, the Illini and Hawkeyes went back-and-forth until the visitors broke a 22-22 tie with back-to-back scores, before a Cooney kill sent UI to a 25-23 set win.
Leading 11-10 in the third, the Illini used a 10-3 run to take control of the set and cruised to a 25-15 win to sweep the Hawkeyes in three.
The Illini next travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan for a Saturday (November 9) meeting with Michigan in Cliff Keen Arena at 6 p.m. CT.
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