MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Illinois Fighting Illini volleyball opened up the 2021 campaign with an exciting five-set win (23-25, 32-30, 22-25, 25-22, 15-8) over UC Santa Barbara on Friday afternoon at the Klotsche Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Junior Kennedy Collins led the way for the Illini, tallying a game-high 17 kills on a .520 hitting percentage. Redshirt junior Diana Brown racked up a game-high 48 assists to go along with 10 digs on the afternoon. Taylor Kuper was also impressive in the season opener, notching four aces and 17 digs.
In a competitive, back-and-forth opening set, neither team secured a large lead, with the largest being a four-point UCSB lead early in the period. The Illini fought their way back, knotting the score at 23 before UCSB took the final two points of the set to take a 1-0 lead. Â
The Illini found themselves in an early hole to open up the second set, but ended up taking a three-point lead midway through the set. After trading points with UCSB late in the set, Kyla Swanson and Raina Terry secured the set win for the Illini with a block to give the Orange and Blue a 32-30 win.
Illinois and UCSB split the third and fourth sets, forcing an exciting fifth set in the season-opener. The Illini jumped out to a 6-2 lead, and a pair of kills by Kennedy Collins extended the Illini lead in the fifth period. The Illini would end up taking the fifth set, 15-8, to take down the Gauchos and move to 1-0 on the season.
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