CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois volleyball team opened its 2020-21 spring home schedule on Friday (January 29), falling to No. 1 Wisconsin, 3-0 (20-25, 28-30, 9-25) in Huff Hall.
Senior Megan Cooney paced the Illini (2-1) with her third-straight double-digit kill outing of the season with 13 kills, while sophomore and reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week Rylee Hinton added six kills on a .452 hitting percentage and two blocks.
Redshirt-sophomore Diana Brown handed out 13 assists in the match, with senior Kylie Bruder also totaled 11 assists. Defensively, junior Taylor Kuper tallied a match-high 16 digs and three service aces.
The Badgers (3-0) grabbed the early momentum with three-straight scores to pull ahead at 8-4 early in the opening set, but a kill from sophomore Kennedy Collins would bring the Illini with three at 11-8. Another 3-0 mini run from the visitors pushed the advantage to 17-11, before the Illini called timeout with the Badgers leading 21-14. Out of the break, kills from Cooney and Hinton and a Kuper ace closed the deficit to 21-17, but back-to-back UI errors stalled the rally as UW took the opener, 25-20.
In a back-and-forth second set that saw 17 ties and five lead changes, the Illini jumped out to a 4-1 edge, before the Badgers came back to tie the score at 5-5. UW then broke away at 15-10 after four-straight points, but the Illini battled back to even things at 17-17 after a 7-2 run that included three Cooney kills. As the two teams traded points, the Illini fought off five set points before the Badgers converted on the sixth for the 30-28 set two win.
The visitors used that momentum to race ahead at 12-2 to start the third set. Back-to-back kills from Cooney and junior Mica Allison cut the deficit to 13-5, but the Illini would not be able recover as the Badgers went on to take the third, 25-9 and match, 3-0.
Next Up
The Illini and Badgers face off again on Saturday (Jan. 30) in an 11 a.m. CT contest airing on Big Ten Network.
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