IOWA CITY, Ill. – The Illinois volleyball team capped an undefeated weekend with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-13, 19-25, 25-13) win over Iowa on Saturday (Jan. 23) afternoon in Carver-Hawkeye Arena to improve to 2-0 on the 2020-21 spring season.
Redshirt-freshman Ellie Holzman continued from where she left off in yesterday's season debut, turning in a match-high 15 kills on a .355 hitting percentage, with senior Megan Cooney adding her second-straight double-digit outing with 13 kills to go along with eight digs, four blocks and a team-high three aces.
Redshirt-sophomore Diana Brown and senior Kylie Bruder combined to lead the Illini (2-0) to a .230 attack clip, with Bruder posting 20 assists and Brown adding 19 helpers in the win.
Sophomore Rylee Hinton and Kennedy Collins dominated at the net with Hinton equaling her career-high with eight blocks and Collins registering five stuffs. Junior Taylor Kuper added a match-high 19 digs, while tallying a team-high three aces. As a whole, the Illini defense held the Hawkeyes (0-2) to a .097 hitting percentage on the weekend.
The Illini continued with their strong start in a tight first set that saw four ties and three lead changes with five-straight points to race out to a 10-5 edge. Iowa pulled within one at 15-14, but a Cooney kill started a 5-1 Illini run to push ahead 20-15. From there the two teams traded points before a Collins kills sealed the 25-20 win.
After trading the first points of the second, the Illini used a 12-3 run to race ahead 14-6 on the strength of strong serving and three kills each from Cooney and Holzman. The Illini dominated the rest of the frame as a Bruder ace gave UI a 25-13 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Iowa responded in the third as neither team grabbed more than a three-point lead until three-straight scores pushed the Hawkeyes ahead at 20-15. UI closed with 21-17 but it would not be enough as the home team took the third, 25-19.
Looking to close out the Hawkeyes in four, the Illini came out focused in the fourth. Leading by one at 6-5, the Illini then put together their most impressive run of the weekend with 10 unanswered -with nine of the 10 points coming on the serve of Cooney – to take a commanding advantage at 16-5. UI then sailed to victory with match point coming on a ball handing error from the Hawkeyes for the 25-13 victory.
NEXT UP
Illinois next returns to Huff Hall to open their home schedule next weekend against No. 1 Wisconsin. The Illini and the Badgers will open their two-match series on Friday (Jan. 29) at 4 p.m. CT, before an 11 a.m. CT contest airing on Big Ten Network on Saturday (Jan. 30).
For more Fighting Illini volleyball news, stay tuned to FightingIllini.com and follow @IlliniVBall on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook.
