Oxford, Miss. – No. 17 Illinois volleyball picked up a 3-1 victory over weekend host Ole Miss on Sunday for the squad's first win of the season. Three Illini turned in double-digit kills with Raina Terry and Jessica Nunge each recording 15.
Nunge and Kayla Burbage were named to the Ole Miss Invitational All-Tournament Team for their weekend efforts.
Illinois is now 3-0 all-time against Ole Miss, earning the first win on either team's home court as both previous matches were neutral site contests.
For the second-straight day, Illinois scored the opening point of the match with Sunday's tally coming from a block assist from Rylee Hinton and Jessica Nunge. The Fighting Illini would hit double digits first with a 10-6 lead and push it out to a 12-7 margin to force an Ole Miss timeout. Illinois would eventually take a 20-13 lead and close out the frame with a 25-16 win. The Orange and Blue operated at a .375 hitting percentage while holding the Rebels to a .065 mark.
Second set action saw the Illini piece together a 6-0 run to take a 12-8 lead early in the frame. Ole Miss would hang around and eventually knot the score at 19-19 to for a timeout by the Orange and Blue. The Rebels used a 4-0 run spanning the break for a 21-19 lead and would take a 23-21 lead. From there, Nunge struck for a kill and the combination of Kayla Burbage and Rylee Hinton teamed up for a block to tie it up at 23-23. The hosts struck for the next point but Illinois would close the frame with a 3-0 run to go up 2-0 in the match with the 26-24 win.
Ole Miss battled back following the break and took the third set by a score of 25-18 to avoid the sweep. The Rebels operated at a match-high .371 hitting percentage while the Illini were held to seven kills and a .071 mark in the frame.
Set four saw the Illini trail early but force eight ties and end up on the right side of three lead changes in a 25-20 victory. Down 7-3 to the Rebels, Illinois battled all the way back to knot the frame at 10-10. From there, back-to-back Nunge aces pushed the score to 12-10 as she matched her career high mark. The rebels would respond with a run of their own to take a 14-12 lead and hold a 15-14 advantage at the media timeout. Illinois would win a challenge to take a 20-19 lead before Ole Miss evened the score one last time. From there, the Illini would close out the win on a 5-0 run.
The match saw 22 ties and 13 lead changes throughout.
Illinois operated at a collective .230 offensive efficiency across the match as Diana Brown dished out 37 assists. Three Illini turned in double digit kills with 15 coming from both Raina Terry and Nunge while Kayla Burbage added 10.
Hinton led the way for the Orange and Blue with six blocks while Burbage (4) and Kyla Swanson (2) each added multiple blocks as well.
In her second match as the Illini libero, Caroline Barnes tallied a team-best 13 digs and added four assists. Brown added nine digs of her own – coming one shy of another double double.
Illinois struck for eight aces from the service line. Nunge led the way with four while Brooke Mosher registered three and Terry added one more.
The Illini are back in action next weekend, Sept. 3-4, in Boulder, Colorado, for the B1G/Pac-12 Challenge. Illinois will take on Colorado on Saturday followed by No. 8 Washington on Sunday.
Notes:
- Starters: Rylee Hinton, Diana Brown, Kyla Swanson, Kayla Burbage, Caroline Barnes, Raina Terry, Jessica Nunge
- The Illini wore long sleeve orange jerseys for the first time of the season.
- Jessica Nunge tied her career high with four service aces. She's now hit the mark five times in her career.
- Nunge and Kayla Burbage were named to the Ole Miss Invitational All-Tournament Team
- Illinois is now 3-0 all-time against Ole Miss, earning the first win on either team's home court as both previous matches were neutral site contests.
- Teams went back to switching benches between sets for the first time since 2019.
