CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 24 Illinois volleyball team wrapped its 2021 home schedule and celebrated Senior Day with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-17) sweep over Maryland, sending senior manager Michael Ryan, senior Taylor Kuper and graduate students Megan Cooney and Kylie Bruder off in style on Sunday (November 21) in Huff Hall.
Sophomore Raina Terry turned in a match-high 11 kills, with junior Jessica Nunge joining her in double figures with 10 kills. Cooney added nine kills, eight digs and three blocks in her final match in Huff Hall, with junior Kennedy Collins contributing eight kills on a .583 hitting percentage and a match-high four blocks.
As a team, the Illini (19-10, 11-7 B1G) registered a .327 hitting percentage, with redshirt-junior Diana Brown handing out 39 assists in the win.
Defensively, Illinois held the Terrapins (19-11, 7-11 B1G) to a .118 team attack clip behind a 7.0 to 4.0 blocking effort, with Kuper leading the way in the floor defense with 13 digs and two service aces.
After a Terrapin kill opened the scoring in the match, the Illini scored the next four points for an early 4-1 lead. UMD closed within one at 6-5, but five-straight points, including four on the Terry service, pushed the advantage to 11-5. UMD responded with a 5-2 run of its own to cut the deficit to 13-10, but back-to-back kills from Cooney and Terry spurred a 5-1 run to propel UI ahead at 18-11 on a Terry and Collins block. The two teams traded points over the next several rallies, before the visitors put together three-unanswered scores to pull within 22-18. Back-to-back kills from Nunge and Cooney stalled the rally and set up set point. The Terrapins fought off the first set point, before a solo block from junior Kyla Swanson sent the Illini to the 25-19 set one win.
An ace from Brown started the second as another ace – this time from Bruder – gave the Illini a 7-3 edge, before a Brown kill pushed the advantage to 12-6. Back-to-back Terrapin points cut the lead to 13-9, but the home team used a 7-1 run on the strength of the Kuper serve to take control at 20-10. From there, the two teams went back and forth until a Nunge kill made it 24-13 in favor of the Illini. A UMD kill fought off one set point, but a Terrapin service error gave the Illini a 25-14 win in the second stanza.
It was the Terrapins with the quick start in the third with a 4-1 edge, before the Illini battled back to score six-straight points en route to an 8-1 run for the 9-5 lead on a Terry kill. After back-and-forth action over the next several plays, the Illini held a 13-10 advantage, before putting together a 7-2 run – again the on the strong Kuper serve – to take a 20-12 lead following a Collins kill. UMD then scored three of the next four points to cut the edge to 21-15 on a service ace, but back-to-back Illini scores stalled the rally. From there, the two teams traded points until a Nunge kill finished off the 25-17 third set and the 3-0 sweep on Senior Day.
Illinois next wraps up its regular season with a trip to the state of Michigan, traveling to Ann Arbor to face Michigan on Wednesday (Nov. 24), before heading to East Lansing for a Friday (Nov. 26) night match against Michigan State. First serve for both matches is set for 6 p.m. CT.
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