CHARLESTON, Ill. – No. 25 Illinois volleyball clinched its fourth straight win with a midweek sweep at Eastern Illinois Wednesday night. Caroline Barnes registered a career-high 21 digs while Jessica Nunge racked up 14 kills to lead the Illini offense.
Wednesday's win pushed Illinois to a 5-3 record on the season including a 3-1 mark in true road matches. The victory moved the Orange and Blue to 20-4 in all-time meetings against Eastern Illinois.
Kyla Swanson took the first swing of the match to give the Illini a 1-0 lead in the opening frame. After trading a few points, the Illini saw back-to-back Kyla Swanson – Kayla Burbage block assists to double up the Panthers at 10-5 and force an EIU timeout. From there, Illinois pushed out to a 15-8 advantage before a 4-0 run by Eastern Illinois made it 15-12. The Orange and Blue battled back at used a 6-0 run to open up a 22-13 lead and would ultimately take the frame, 25-15. The squad racked up four aces, 15 digs and held the Panthers to a -.074 hitting clip.
Illinois jumped out to a quick 6-3 lead in set two and forced Eastern Illinois to use an early timeout. Out of the break the Panthers battled back to knot the frame at 7-7 before beating the Illini to double digits. The frame would see three lead changes along with 11 ties but Illinois tallied five of the last six points in the frame to secure a 25-23 victory.
With a 2-0 lead in the match, the Illini once again forced an early EIU timeout with a quick 5-1 advantage. Illinois pushed out to a 16-8 lead before the Panthers would chip away an even the set at 22-22. From there, Burbage struck for a kill to give the Illini the lead for good. On the next point, Burbage teamed up with Swanson for another block to give the Illini match point. An EIU error would secure the match.
From the service line, Illinois tallied eight aces, led by four off the hand of Jessica Nunge. The Illini have registered eight or more aces four times this season.
Along with her aces and kills (14), Nunge operated at a .367 offensive efficiency along with adding four digs and two blocks.
Kennedy Collins, Burbage and Raina Terry each added eight kills in the win. Burbage and Swanson led the Illini with six blocks apiece while Collins turned in five.
Caroline Barnes racked up a career-best 21 digs – the first 20-dig performance of her career. The outing marked the first 20-dig effort by any Illini player this season.
Brooke Mosher also tallied double-digit digs, finishing with 10.
Collectively, the Illini defense held Eastern Illinois to a .059 hitting percentage. Illinois has now held two of its last three opponents below .100 while keeping its last four foes at a .150 efficiency or below.
Diana Brown dished out 37 assists while collecting three digs.
This weekend, the Illini will close out regular season non-conference play in Milwaukee, Wis., with matches against Illinois State and No. 19 Marquette. Matches are set for 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Notes:
- Starters: Kennedy Collins, Diana Brown, Kyla Swanson, Kayla Burbage, Caroline Barnes, Raina Terry and Becca Sakoda.
- Illinois swept its third straight match of the season and has now won 12 consecutive sets.
- The Illini wore long sleeve orange jerseys for the fourth time of the season and are now 3-1 when wearing those.
- Caroline Barnes tallied a career-high 21 digs – the first 20-dig outing of her career.
- Illinois is 20-4 all-time against Eastern Illinois. Wednesday's tilt was the first meeting between the teams since 2005 and first match in Charleston since 1995.
