CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – In front of a sellout crowd of 4,152 fans on Stuff Huff Night, the No. 20 Illinois volleyball team fell just short in a five-set (22-25, 27-25, 28-26, 22-25, 10-15) thriller against No. 3 Nebraska in the Illini's Big Ten Conference opener on Friday night (September 27) at Huff Hall.
Senior Jacqueline Quade led the Illini with her fourth double-double of the season as she turned in a match-high 18 kills and was the co-leader for the Illini (5-5, 0-1 B1G) with 13 digs, while also posting three service aces. Classmate Ashlyn Fleming and junior Megan Cooney also reached double figures with 14 kills apiece, with Fleming registering a .500 hitting percentage with just one error in 26 swings and Cooney adding a team-leading four stuffs.
Redshirt-freshman Diana Brown earned her team-leading sixth double-double of the season as she passed out 51 assists to go along with 11 digs and equaled a career-high with four blocks on the night.
Defensively, junior Morgan O'Brien joined Quade with a team-high 13 digs.
The Huskers (9-1, 1-0 B1G) jumped out to an early lead with a 25-22 win in the opening set, but the Illini stormed back to take the next two in dramatic fashion as both the second and third periods went past the 25-point mark, with UI winning 27-25 and 28-26 to take a 2-1 edge in the match.
After Nebraska took the fourth set, 25-22, to force a fifth and final set, the visitors raced out a 7-3 advantage, but the Illini fought back to close to within one at 8-7 on a Cooney kill. From there, the Huskers used a 7-3 run to finish off the 15-10 set victory and take the match, 3-2.
The Illini next face Iowa for an Orange Out Night on Saturday (September 28) at 7 p.m. CT in Huff Hall.
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