MILWAUKEE, Wis. – No. 25 Illinois volleyball went to five sets for the first time of the 2022 campaign before falling to Illinois State, 3-2. Caroline Barnes posted 25 digs – her second career high in the category this week. Jessica Nunge helped the Orange and Blue with her own career-best of 17 kills. Raina Terry led the Illini with 19 kills and a .308 hitting clip.
Illinois moves to 5-4 on the season with the setback but will play its second match of the day at No. 19 Marquette at 6 p.m. CT.
A Kayla Burbage kill was the first point of the day and the Illini would hold that lead out to 7-4 and 10-8. Illinois State would knot the match at 18-18 and took the lead on the next point to force a UI timeout. The Redbirds struck for two more points out of the stoppage to force the Illini's second timeout. Illinois State would ultimately claim the set, 25-20, closing things on a 9-2 run.
The Redbirds would stay hot and lead wire to wire in set two for a 25-21 victory and 2-0 lead in the match. Illinois State hit double digits first, up 10-7 before the Illini battled back within one on a few occasions before ISU pushed ahead to a 20-14 margin.
Third-set action would see just one tie and one lead change – all in favor of the Fighting Illini. Illinois pushed out to a 15-5 lead on an 8-0 run with Kennedy Collins at the service line. Collins would pick up two of her three aces during the run. The Illini kept their foot on the gas and closed out a 25-13 decisive victory to pull within 2-1 in the match.
Set four played out much closer, featuring nine ties and five lead changes. The Illini broke out to a quick 4-0 lead but Illinois State would reciprocate the 4-0 run to a 13-9 advantage. Illinois trailed 18-15 but a 4-0 run sparked by three Nunge kills flipped the score to give the Orange and Blue the lead. Illinois led 22-20 before a three-point swing gave Illinois State a 23-22 advantage. However, back-to-back kills from Terry and block by Collins and Brooke Mosher evened up the match at 2-2.
Illinois took a quick 3-2 lead in the Orange and Blue's first fifth set since Oct. 29, 2021.Three points later, Nunge's 17th kill of the match knotted things at 4-4. From there, the Redbirds pieced together a 6-0 run to take a 10-4 lead before the Illini could end the run. Illinois State would ultimately hold off UI in the 15-9 fifth-set decision.
Diana Brown registered the 44th double double of her career and fourth of the season with 47 assists and 10 digs. Mosher added a season best 13 digs, which was second behind Barnes' 25 – her second-straight 20-dig match.
Collins tallied eight kills, four blocks, three aces, one assist and a dig in the match. Rylee Hinton got in on the offense after subbing in during the second set before starting the final three frames. She finished with five kills on 10 errorless swings for a .500 efficiency.
Notes:
- Starters: Kennedy Collins, Diana Brown, Kyla Swanson, Kayla Burbage, Caroline Barnes, Raina Terry and Becca Sakoda.
- Illinois went five sets for the first time of the season against Illinois State.
- The Illini wore long sleeve white jerseys for the third time of the season and are now 1-2 when wearing those.
- Illinois is 28-31 all-time against Illinois State with Saturday's loss. The last neutral site meeting - prior to Saturday's - between the programs was Sept. 12, 1987, when the Illini claimed a 3-1 victory.
