CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 25 Illinois volleyball team suffered a 3-0 (22-25, 16-25, 14-25) setback on Saturday (November 6) night in Huff Hall.
Junior Kennedy Collins led the Illini (16-9, 8-6 B1G) with 10 kills on a .450 hitting percentage to go along with two blocks, while sophomore Raina Terry added nine kills and served up a match-high three aces on the night. Â
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown handed out 30 assists, with senior Taylor Kuper pacing the defense with 10 digs.
The Illini jumped out to an early 4-2 edge following a Kuper ace, before pushing the lead to 7-4 on a Terry ace. After the Gophers put together three-straight scores to tie the score at 7-7, the Illini responded with back-to-back kills from junior Jessica Nunge and Collins. From there, the home team maintained a two-point advantage until three-unanswered points capped by an ace from graduate student Kylie Bruder gave UI a 15-11 lead. Out of a Minnesota timeout, the visitors used a 6-0 run to pull ahead at 17-15, but the Illini answered back with three-straight scores of their own for an 18-17 lead following an UM error. After a Gopher kill knotted the score at 18-18, the two teams went back-and-forth with four ties over the next several rallies until UM broke a 22-22 tie with three-straight points to take the opening set, 25-22. Â
It was Gophers with the quick start in the second with an 8-3 advantage, before another three-straight points pushed the UM lead to 11-4. The visitors continued to lead at 14-7, but the Illini fought back with four-straight point en route to a 6-1 run to close within 15-13 on a Nunge kill. Minnesota then converted the next three points to take back the momentum as the Gophers finished the set on a 10-3 run - helped by back-to-back challenges won by the visitors - for a 25-16 set win and a 2-0 advantage in the match.
After Minnesota scored four of the first five points of the third, the Illini battled back to within 5-4 on a Terry ace. The visitors then strung together seven-unanswered scores to build a 14-6 edge. Back-to-back Illini points stalled the run, but the Gophers used another 6-1 run to take a 20-9 advantage in the stanza. UI scored three of the next four points to close within 21-12, but the two teams then traded points for the remainder of the set until back-to-back Minnesota scores sealed the 25-14 set win and sent the visitors to a 3-0 victory.
Illinois next wraps up its four-match homestand with a pair of matches in Huff Hall next weekend, starting with a Friday (November 12) night contest against Indiana at 6 p.m. CT, before taking on No. 7 Ohio State on Sunday (November 14) at 12 p.m. CT.
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