LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Illinois volleyball team is Sweet 16 bound for the third time under head coach Chris Tamas as the Illini shocked defending national champion and No. 7 seed Kentucky in a 3-1 (25-22, 20-25, 25-10, 25-21) victory in the NCAA Tournament second round on Saturday (December 4) in Memorial Coliseum.
With the win, the Illini improve to 22-11 and earn the program's 19th NCAA Regional appearance in program history and 10th appearance in the last 14 seasons. Saturday's win over the Wildcats (25-5)) also marks the 100th career win for Tamas, all coming as the leader of the Illini.
Illinois will meet a familiar foe in Big Ten Conference member and No. 10 seed Nebraska in the NCAA Regional Semifinals on Thursday (December 9) at Gregory Gymnasium on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin.
Sophomore Raina Terry had a monster match for the Illini, pouring in a career-high 27 kills to tie for sixth-most in a postseason match in program history. Joining her in double figures was graduate student Megan Cooney with 17 kills on a .302 attack clip and junior Kennedy Collins with 10 kills on a .381 hitting percentage. With her 17 kills on the night, Cooney moved over 1,500 kills in her career and currently sits 10th all-time with 1,507 kills.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown handed out 52 assists as she led the Illini to a .331 team hitting percentage, while also registering 16 digs for her 40th career double-double and 16th of the season.
Defensively, senior Taylor Kuper turned in a match-high 23 digs, her 18th-career 20-dig match and the 11th of the season, while adding nine assists and a match-high three service aces to put her at 50 aces on the season. The Lenexa, Kansas native also reached the 1,400 digs mark in her career and moved into fifth place all-time with 1,411 career digs.
As a team, the Illini outblocked the Wildcats, seven to six, with junior Kyla Swanson led the Illini at the net with four blocks on the night.
After trading points the first several plays of the opening set, the Illini grabbed the first significant lead with three-straight points on back-to-back Terry kills combined with Nunge kill for a 7-4 edge following. The Wildcats answered back with a 4-0 run of their own to take a 9-8 advantage. The Illini quickly tied it as the teams went back and forth until a Kuper ace gave the visitors a 14-11 lead. UK would close within one at 14-13, but a 4-1 run pushed UI ahead at 18-14. After trading scores, the Wildcats then used four-unanswered points to knot the score at 21-21. It was all Illini from there as three-straight scores set up set point at 24-21. UK would fight off the first, before a Terry kill sealed the 25-22 first set.
The Wildcats opened the second stanza with the first two points as the home team built a 6-3 advantage early, but the Illini responded – using the momentum of an overturned challenge – to kickstart a 6-1 run for a 9-7 lead. UK answered right back with five-straight scores en route to an 11-4 run to go ahead at 18-13 midway through the set. After trading points, the Illini pulled within 20-18 with three-straight scores, capped by a Nunge kill. UK quickly answered, but another Nunge kill again cut the deficit to two at 21-19. The Wildcats then finished off the 25-20 second with four of the final five points to even the match at 1-1.
It was all Illini in the third as the visitors scored the first three points and quickly built a 4-1 advantage. After trading points, UK used back-to-back scores to close within 6-5, but it would be as close as the Wildcats would get as five-straight points kickstarted a dominant set for the visitors with a 19-5 run from 6-5 score in the stanza. After a service error made it 11-6, the Illini put together a 9-1 run – highlighted by a pair of Kuper aces – for a 20-7 edge. The two teams then exchanged points before UI finished off the set with a 4-1 run for 25-10 win.
Building off the momentum of the third set, the Illini raced out to a 9-1 start in the fourth. A Terry kill then made it 12-4, but the Wildcats continued to battle with 6-2 run to cut their deficit to 14-10. UI came right back as a Terry kill started a 5-1 run as the Illini pushed their advantage back to 19-11. Back-to-back Wildcat points then propelled the home team to a 6-3 run of their own to cut the Illini lead back to 22-17, but again the Illini answered back, taking three of the next four points as a UK attack error set up match point at 24-17. UK would fight off four match points, before a Swanson kill sent the Illini to the Sweet 16 with a 25-21 set win.
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