OMAHA, Neb. – The Illinois volleyball team opened the Bluejay Invitational with a 3-1 (25-15, 25-17, 18-25, 25-11) victory over Omaha on Friday (September 10) morning in D.J. Sokol Arena.
Sophomore Raina Terry led all players with a season-high 17 kills on a .300 hitting percentage, with junior Jessica Nunge joining her in double figures with 11 kills on a .429 attack clip to go along with a team-high three aces. Graduate student Megan Cooney also turned in eight kills, while equaling her career-high with 12 digs and also added three aces in the win.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown handed out 39 assists en route to leading the Illini to a season-high .306 team hitting percentage.
Defensively, Taylor Kuper registered a team-high 18 digs, with juniors Kennedy Collins and Kyla Swanson leading UI with three blocks each.
It was all Illini to start the opening set as back-to-back Kuper aces made it 6-1, before pushing the lead out to 14-5 following back-to-back bad sets from the Mavericks. Omaha would close within 15-9 after an Illini attack error but an 8-2 run propelled UI to a 23-11 advantage. Back-to-back scores from Omaha then made it 23-13, but a service error gave the Illini match point, with another Maverick service error three points later gave UI the 25-15 set one win.
It was a tight start to the second until the Illini broke a 6-6 tie with five-straight points that included three Nunge aces for the 11-6 lead. Omaha cut its deficit to 12-9 with back-to-back scores, but the Illini busted things open with a 7-1 run on the strength of Brown's serve for the 19-10 advantage. The two teams then traded scores until a Swanson kill gave the Illini set point at 24-16, before a Terry kill handed UI a 25-17 set victory.
With the Illini leading 2-0 in the match, the third stanza was back-and-forth with neither team grabbing a significant lead until Omaha broke a 12-12 tie with seven-unanswered scores for a 19-12 edge. From there, the two teams went point-for-point a Maverick kill at 25-18 pushed the match to a fourth set.
In the fourth, the two teams traded points until the Illini took control with a 14-1 run – including six-straight points each on the serve of Nunge and graduate student Kylie Bruder – to take a commanding 20-7 lead. The Illini then traded scores with Omaha before Nunge and Collins teamed up for a block to give UI a 25-11 set win and take the match, 3-1. Â
The Illini continue play at the Bluejay Invitational with a 7 p.m. CT match against SMU on Friday (Sept. 10) evening.
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