COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Illinois volleyball earned a hard-fought sweep at Maryland on Friday night to open the Orange and Blue's weekend road trip. Three Illini registered double-digit kills, led by 18 off the hand of Raina Terry. Diana Brown and Brooke Mosher each collected a double double in the Illini's fifth sweep of the season.
With Friday's victory, Illinois climbs to 8-7 on the season and 3-2 in Big Ten play – including a 2-0 mark against Maryland.
Maryland scored first and hit double digits first in all three sets of action. Across the match, the benches battled to 15 ties and seven lead changes.
First-set action opened with five ties on the way out to a 10-10 score. On the next serve, Mosher delivered an ace to give the Illini a lead they would hold the rest of the way to a 25-15 win in the opening frame. Illinois used a 4-0 run to push out to a 13-10 lead. The Terps called for timeouts trailing 15-11 and soon after 19-12. Illinois operated at a .313 hitting percentage while holding Maryland to a .059 reading.
Set two saw Maryland open a quick lead again as the Terps owned a lead as large as five at 14-9, forcing an Illini timeout. Out of the break, Illinois rattled off four-straight kills to pull within one and force a UM stoppage. After a Maryland kill, Illinois pieced together a 5-0 run for an 18-15 lead and Maryland's second timeout. The hosts battled all the way back to knot the score at 20-20. Three-straight kills from Mosher later and UI's lead was 23-20 before closing the set with a 25-22 win.
With a 2-0 lead in the match, Illinois found itself trailing 14-9 again in the third set. From there, the Illini scored six of the next eight points to pull within one at 16-15. The Orange and Blue pulled even at 17-17 and 18-18 before a block assist from Mosher and Sarah Bingham gave Illinois the lead for good. Maryland took a timeout down 24-22 and scored a point out of the break but Mosher would connect for her 10th kill to close the win for Illinois.
With 52 kills, Illinois set a match-high for a three-set outing on the season. Terry tallied 18 strikes on 48 swings for a .292 hitting clip. Mosher and Kayla Burbage added 10 kills apiece while Kennedy Collins added nine more.
Mosher added 13 kills as well to register the first double-double performance of her career. Brown added 13 kills and 43 assists for her ninth double double of the season – the 49th of her career.
In the first start of her career, Bingham connected for kills on four of her seven errorless swings to finish with a .571 hitting percentage. She led the Illini with four blocks, including one solo.
Illinois volleyball is back in action on Sunday at No. 13 Penn State. First serve from Rec Hall is slated for noon CT.
Notes:
- Starters: Kennedy Collins, Diana Brown, Sarah Bingham, Kayla Burbage, Caroline Barnes, Raina Terry and Brooke Mosher.
- The Illini wore long sleeve blue jerseys for the fourth time this season and are now 2-2 when wearing those.
- Diana Brown delivered her ninth double double of the season and 49th of her career. Brown racked up 43 assists and 13 digs.
- Brooke Mosher earned the first double double of her career with 10 kills and 13 digs.
- Illinois Leads the all-time series 14-0 with Friday's win including a 5-0 mark when playing in College Park.
- With Friday's sweep, Illinois earned the series win against the Terps, 2-0, which breaks down to 6-1 by sets.
- Attendance Friday night was called at 1,292.
