CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – On a special night that saw the Illinois volleyball team celebrate and honor its alums and Olympic Gold Medalists Michelle Bartsch-Hackley, Jordyn Poulter and Erin Virtue as well as the 2011 NCAA Runner-Up team, the Illini battled against No. 11 Washington before dropping a 3-1 (15-25, 21-25, 32-30, 25-21) decision in their first match of the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge in Huff Hall on Friday (Sept. 3) night.
Graduate student Megan Cooney led all players and was one of four Illini in double figures with 14 kills, while adding 1- digs for her sixth-career double-double. Joining her was junior Kennedy Collins with 13 kills, junior Jessica Nunge with 12 kills and sophomore Raina Terry with 11 kills to go along with a match-high four aces.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown registered her 27th-career double-double – and her third in four matches this season – with 47 assists and a match-high 17 digs.
Defensively, junior Kyla Swanson led with five blocks, while senior Taylor Kuper added 10 digs on the night.
After the Huskies (2-1) started quickly with a 6-1 lead in the opening set, the Illini (3-1) tied things up on a Nunge kill at 7-7. Washington then used a 10-4 run to take a 17-11 midway through the set, before three-straight scores pushed the visitor lead to 21-13. UW then used strung together four unanswered points to close out the first, 25-15.
In a tighter second set, neither team jumped out to more than a four-point lead until back-to-back scores gave the Huskies a 16-11 edge. Three-straight points from Illinois cut the deficit to 18-15, but the visitors answered back for a 20-15 advantage following a kill. The Illini closed within two at 22-20 with a 5-2 run, but UW would finish with a 5-1 run of its own for the 25-21 set two win.
The third set proved to be the most competitive of the match with 22 ties and 13 lead changes. In the back-and-forth stanza, a Terry ace gave the Illini a 16-13 advantage, before the Huskies fought back with three-straight scores to knot it up at 16-16. From there neither team gave up ground as the Illini fought off three set points before earning one of their own at 27-26 on a UW attack error. UI battled back from another two UW set points before having its second set point at 30-29. The Huskies would tie things up, but Illinois came right back with back-to-back kills from Collins and Terry to secure the 32-30 set three victory.
The battled continued into the fourth with the Huskies taking a 10-6 lead, before the Illini came back to take a 12-11 edge on back-to-back Cooney and Swanson blocks. The two teams then traded points before a Nunge kill tied the set at 21-21, but the Huskies would then close out the match with four-straight scores to take the fourth, 25-21 and the match, 3-1.
The Illini will have a quick turnaround as they face Colorado on Saturday (Sept. 4) for College Colors Day in Huff Hall at 2 p.m. CT. Fans are encouraged to wear orange to "Orange Out" Huff Hall, with the 1,000 fans getting "Back in the Fight" shirts.
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