UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – For the first time since 2014 the Illinois volleyball team earned a victory in Rec Hall as the Illini pushed their win streak to four matches with a 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-22) upset of No. 13 Penn State on Saturday (October 30) night.
The Illini, who last defeated the Nittany Lions (15-7, 8-4 B1G) in a five-set thriller in 2018 in Huff Hall, earned just their 12th win over PSU in program history and their fourth-ever in Rec Hall. UI's last victory in University Park came on October 11, 2014 when the Illini took down the then-defending champions in four sets.
The Illini (16-7, 8-4 B1G) were led by sophomore Raina Terry with a team-high 17 kills to go along with four digs and three blocks, with graduate student Megan Cooney turning in 14 kills on a .343 hitting percentage and seven digs. Â Junior Kennedy Collins joined the duo in double figures with 11 kills, while classmate Kyla Swanson added eight kills on 11 swings and no errors for a .727 attack clip and led the match with seven blocks.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown equaled a season-high with 52 assists as she directed the Illini offense to a .299 hitting percentage while also turning in nine digs in the win. Graduate student Kylie Bruder led the Illini at the service line with a career-high four aces, while junior Taylor Kuper led the defensive effort with a match-high 19 digs. Freshman Caroline Barnes added a career-high 12 digs on the night.
A pair of Bruder aces in the early goings sparked an early 5-2 advantage for the Illini in the opening set, but three-straight PSU points tied the score at 5-5. The two teams then exchanged points until the home team notched back-to-back scores for a 15-12 lead midway through the set. The Illini fought back with a 5-2 run to tie the score at 17-17, before the Nittany Lions used five-straight points to build a 22-17 edge. Back-to-back points from the Illini – capped by a Kuper ace – cut the deficit to 22-19, but PSU went on to score three of the final four points to take the first, 25-20.
After trading points to open the second, Penn State used three-straight scores to take a 9-6 edge, but back-to-back Illini points closed the score within one at 9-8 as the two teams traded points over the next several rallies. The Nittany Lions then used a 4-2 mini run to go ahead at 15-12, but another two Illini scores brought the visitors within one at 15-14. After a block from Swanson and junior Jessica Nunge brought the Illini to within 16-15, the home team strung together three-straight scores for a 19-15 advantage. Trailing by four at 20-16, the Illini rallied to end the set on a 9-3 run, including four-straight points as a Brown ace sealed the 25-23 set win to tie up the match at 1-1.
In the tightest set of the match, with 14 ties and five lead changes, the Illini took an early 10-7 edge on a 5-1 run that was capped by back-to-back Swanson kills. The Illini continued to lead as back-to-back kills from Terry and Cooney pushed the advantage to 18-13, but five-straight PSU points knotted the score at 18-18. The two teams traded points as PSU earned a pair of set points, but the Illini fought them both off with the Nittany Lions serving into the net to tie the score at 25-25, before kills from Terry and Swanson gave the Illini the third, 27-25. Â Â
The Illini jumped out to the early 6-3 lead on back-to-back Terry kills, before the Nittany Lions tied things up at 8-8. From there, it was a back-and-forth affair with the Illini grabbing two-point advantages at 16-14, 18-16, 21-19 and 22-20, but PSU continued to battle back until UI broke a 22-22 tie with three-straight points on back-to-back Terry kills, following by the match-winning kill from Collins at 25-22.
Illinois next returns home to open a four-match homestand in Huff Hall, starting with Big Ten Network-broadcasted contest against No. 6 Nebraska at 8 p.m. CT on Thursday (November 4), before facing off with No. 11 Minnesota on Saturday (November 6) at 6 p.m. CT.
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