EVANSTON, Ill. – The Illinois volleyball team completed a season sweep of Northwestern with a four-set (20-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-21) victory over the Wildcats on Wednesday (Oct. 20) night in Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Sophomore Raina Terry came within two kills of a career-high as she poured in a season-high 21 kills on a .364 hitting percentage, while adding seven digs and a pair of blocks. Junior Jessica Nunge joined her in double figures with 13 kills on a .400 attack clip and added two aces.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown handed out 41 assists as she directed the Illini (13-7, 5-4) to a .336 team hitting percentage, while also serving up a pair of aces.
Defensively, graduate student Megan Cooney led with 11 digs and senior Taylor Kuper added nine digs to go along with a pair of aces. At the net, the Illini outblocked their opponent for the fourth-straight match, totaling a season-high 13 blocks to Northwestern's four as junior Kennedy Collins continued her strong play with a match-high seven blocks – including equaling a career-high with two solo stuffs on the night, with Cooney and junior Kyla Swanson each adding six blocks in the win.
The Wildcats opened the match with an early 4-2 lead in the first, before a Nunge kill pushed the Illini ahead at 6-5. From there, the home used a 7-0 run to take control at 11-6. The two teams traded runs of 3-1 and 4-2 as a Wildcat kill made it 16-11, but back-to-back Nunge kills closed the deficit to three at 16-13. NU came right back with back-to-back scores of their own, before the Illini put together a 6-3 run to close within 21-19 – capped by a Cooney ace. After trading points, the Wildcats then finished the set with three-straight scores to take the first, 25-20.
It was a back-and-forth start to the second set as the Illini broke a 5-5 tie with a 7-2 run that saw three-straight points on thee Brown serve to take a 12-7 advantage. Back-to-back Wildcat scores closed the gap to 12-9, but a Terry kill combined with a Cooney and Collins block pushed the edge to 15-10. NU responded with a 6-1 run of its own to knot the score at 16-16, but the Illini answered back by converting four of the next five points for a 20-17 following a Nunge kill. After the two teams traded points over the next three points, UI ended the set with four-straight points for the 25-19 win.
Northwestern scored the first two points of the third stanza en route to building an 8-5 lead, but the Wildcats would only score seven more points in the set as the Illini put together runs of six-straight points and seven-straight points for an 18-10 edge. The two teams then traded points until UI strung together three-straight scores – capped by Collins' first career ace – for set point at 24-14. The Wildcats would fight off one set point, before a Nunge kill sealed the 25-15 set.
A Nunge ace started things off in the fourth, the tightest of the match with 13 ties and four lead changes. The Illini held two two-point advantages early on at 3-1 and 4-2, but from there it was a back-and-forth affair until back-to-back Kuper aces gavw UI an 11-9 edge. After NU quickly tied it at 11-11, the two teams continued to exchange points until the Illini – trailing at 15-14 – used a 6-2 run to pull ahead at 20-17 following a Terry ace. The Wildcats responded with back-to-back points to close within 20-19, but a Terry kill combined with a Bruder ace kicked off a 5-2 Illini run to end the set as a Collins kill secured the 25-21 set win and 3-1 victory.
Illinois next returns to Huff Hall for its Pink Match against Michigan on Saturday (October 23) at 3 p.m. CT in Huff Hall.
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