CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois volleyball team battled for five sets before falling to Ohio State, 3-2 (22-25, 25-16, 21-25, 18-25, 11-15) on Saturday (Feb. 20) afternoon in Huff Hall.
Freshman Raina Terry led the way for the Illini (2-6) with her second-straight double-double after besting her career-best performance from Friday night with 19 kills and 13 digs, while senior Megan Cooney turned in 15 kills and a career-high-equaling 12 digs in the match. Joining the duo in double figures was sophomore Kennedy Collins with a career-best 10 kills against the Buckeyes (9-0).
Redshirt-sophomore Diana Brown was the third Illini with her team-leading fourth double-double of the season after handing out 26 assists and tallying 13 digs, with senior Kylie Bruder adding 19 helpers on the day.
The Illini had another strong showing at the service line, registering 11 aces to OSU's two, with Terry and junior Taylor Kuper each posting three aces in the match.
Kuper also paced the Illini with her second-straight 20-dig outing with 23 against the Buckeyes, while sophomore Rylee Hinton posted a team-high five blocks to round out the Illini defensive leaders.
In an opening set that saw 10 ties and two score changes, neither team grabbed control until OSU broke a 21-21 tie with a 4-1 run to take the first, 25-22.
The Illini bounced back in the second and used a 5-2 spurt to break an 8-8 tie and take a 16-12 advantage, before pushing their edge to 20-15 on a Terry kill. After an OSU score, UI finished off the set with five unanswered points for the 25-16 win.
OSU jumped out quickly in the third for a 5-1 lead, but the Illini battled back to tie the score at 11-11 on a Collins kill. From there it was a back-and-forth affair until back-to-back kills from Hinton and Terry gave the Illini a 21-18 advantage. OSU then closed within 21-20, but the Illini responded by scoring four of the final five points, including three-straight to take a 2-1 advantage in the match with the 25-21 set victory.
It was another fast start for the visitors at 9-1, but again the Illini fought back to knot things at 11-11 with three-straight kills from redshirt-sophomore Bruna Vrankovic, Terry and Hinton. OSU answered back with a 9-2 run to pull ahead at 20-13. Back-to-back kills from Collins and Cooney combined with a bad OSU set brought UI within 21-17, but another 4-1 run from the Buckeyes gave them a 25-18 win and sent the match to a fifth and final set.
It was all OSU to start the fifth, with the visitors scoring the first five points en route to an 8-3 edge. The Illini closed within three at 9-6 following a Hinton and Vrankovic block, but the Buckeyes again pushed their lead to five at 12-7. UI answered back with four-straight scores – including three Terry kills – but after an OSU timeout, the Buckeyes rattled off three-straight points to take the fifth, 15-11 and the match, 3-2.
Next Up
The Illini next hit the road to a trip to East Lansing, Michigan, for a two-match series at Michigan State on Feb. 27-28.
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