LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Illinois volleyball team kicked off its postseason run with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-12, 25-22, 25-20) win over West Virginia in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament on Friday (December 3) night in Memorial Coliseum.
Illinois, who improves to 21-11 on the season, now advances to the second round and will face host and No. 7 seed Kentucky on Saturday (December 4) at 4 p.m. CT. The Wildcats swept SEMO in their first-round match on Friday.
The Illini had five players reach double figures in kills, led by sophomore Raina Terry with 18 kills on a .317 hitting percentage to go along with nine digs, with graduate student Megan Cooney turning in 15 kills on a .375 attack clip. Joining the duo were a trio of juniors as Jessica Nunge posted 13 kills, Kennedy Collins added 11 kills on a .350 hitting percentage and Kyla Swanson with 10 kills on a team-high .562 attack clip.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown passed out a season-high 53 assists as she directed the balanced Illini attack to a .306 hitting percentage, while registering her 39th career double-double and 15th of the season with 14 digs and equaled a career-high with a team-high three service aces in the win.
Defensively, the Illini held the Mountaineers (19-10) to a .184 hitting percentage, outblocking WVU 11 to six, with Swanson leading the way with six blocks and Collins adding five stuffs on the night.
Senior Taylor Kuper had a standout night as the libero totaled 26 digs, tying for the third-most digs in an NCAA Tournament match in program history after Jennifer Beltran twice hit that mark during the 2011 run and Rachel Feldman also posted 26 digs against Dayton in 2009.
Making their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, it was the Mountaineers with fast start at 10-3, but an 8-3 run – capped by a Nunge ace – closed the deficit to 13-11. After back-to-back WVU points pushed the edge back to 15-11, the Illini battled back with another 8-3 run to take their first lead of the set at 19-18 following a Nunge kill. Back-to-back scores gave the Mountaineers back the lead at 20-19, but a Swanson kill quickly evened the set. After trading points, back-to-back kills from Cooney and Terry combined with Cooney and Swanson block put the Illini ahead at 23-21, but WVU answered back with four-straight points to take the first, 25-23.
It was all Illini in the second set as Brown served UI to a 5-0 start, highlighted by a pair of aces. The Illini continued to hold a 9-3 advantage following a Cooney kill, before another back-to-back Illini scores pushed the lead to 11-4. WVU responded with back-to-back scores of their own to cut the deficit to 11-6, but a 4-1 run gave UI at 15-7 edge on a Nunge kill. After exchanging points for a 16-9 score line, the Illini took control with a 7-1 run, including a string of five-straight points – to build a 23-10 advantage. The two teams then traded points as the Illini closed out the 25-12 set with a 9-3 run, evening up the match at 1-1.
After an early 4-2 edge for the Illini, the Mountaineers came back with a 6-2 run to take an 8-6 advantage. A Nunge kill then started four-unanswered points en route to a 9-1 run to propel UI to a 15-9 lead following a Terry kill. The two teams traded scores over the next four rallies, before back-to-back Illinois points – highlighted by a Terry and Collins block – gave the Illini an 18-11 lead. West Virginia responded with a 4-1 run to cut their deficit to four at 19-15, but the Illini responded again with three-straight points with Nunge and Swanson combining for a block to make it 22-15. The Mountaineers continued to fight as five-straight points cut the Illini lead to 23-22, but a Swanson kill set up set point at 24-21. After WVU fought off one set point, a Terry kill sealed the 25-22 set three win.
It was a back-and-forth start to the fourth as a Kuper hustle play turned into an Illini point for the 5-4 lead. WVU answered back with three-straight point for a 7-5 edge, but a 12-2 run – including eight-straight points with seven on the Nunge serve – broke things open for the Illini at 17-9. Three-straight scores from the Mountaineers slowed the Illini momentum, before back-to-back points gave UI a 19-12 lead. The two teams then exchanged points until back-to-back WVU kills brought the visitors within 22-17. Out of a timeout, the Illini traded points as a Cooney kill set up match point at 24-18. The Mountaineers fought off a pair of match points, before a Swanson kill sent Illinois to the 25-20 fourth set win and the 3-1 match victory.
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