PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Illinois volleyball topped Rutgers in a five-set match at Jersey Mikes Arena on Sunday afternoon.
The Fighting Illini improved to 10-10 this season including a 5-5 Big Ten record. The Scarlet Knights fell 9-11 this year with a 1-9 record against league opponents.
The Orange and Blue tallied 58 kills and 12 blocks as a team. Raina Terry paced the squad with 21 kills in the match, marking the 17th time in her career that the senior exceeded the 20-kill mark. Jessica Nunge recorded double-digit kills for the fourth-straight match, amassing a season-high 17 in the win. On the defensive end, Caroline Barnes recorded 22 digs while middle blockers Cari Bohm and Kennedy Collins added five stuffs each. Brooke Mosher dished out 46 assists and added 11 digs for her 13th career double-double.
How it happened
Illinois struggled to find a rhythm early, trailing 12-6 following seven-straight Scarlet Knight scores. Offensive woes continued for the Orange and Blue, hitting just .075 for the set. The Fighting Illini allowed a 3-0 rally to end the frame, falling 25-17.
Illinois fell behind early in the second set, 7-3, but a four-point turn for Illinois with Collins behind the service line cut into Rutgers' 9-8 advantage. A 5-0 rally that included an ace from Terry gave Illinois the 17-15 edge, forcing RU to burn a timeout. Three-straight for the Fighting Illini, including a pair of kills from Terry built a five-point advantage and led to the Scarlet Knights final break of the frame. A 4-0 run brought the Orange and Blue to set point and a Bohm kill put away the 25-17 triumph in the second set.
Knotted at a set apiece, the teams battled back-and forth with a solo block from Terry sending the Illini into the media timeout ahead 15-13. The teams continued to fight and an ace from Mosher led to a Rutgers timeout with Illinois ahead, 20-18. However, five-straight for RU late in the frame left Illinois trailing 23-21. Rutgers scored back-to-back points to end the set, handing the Illini the 25-22 loss.
The Orange and Blue surrendered the first five points of the fourth set to the Scarlet Knights. The Fighting Illini squad added a 3-0 run to come within a score but the Illini trailed 15-13 at the media break. A block from Collins and Mosher spurred a 4-0 turn that favored of the Fighting Illini, leading the RU's first timeout of the set with the Orange and Blue ahead, 17-15. Three-straight for Rutgers resulted in an Illinois timeout with the frame knotted at 19. A 3-0 rally that included a pair of kills from Nunge helped Illinois regain the 22-20 edge late in the set. A Rutgers service error gave the Fighting Illini set point before Terry's 17th kill of the day put away the 25-22 win in the fourth frame.
The Illini began the fifth set on a 4-0 run and a kill from Nunge on the outside helped the team hold the 8-5 edge as the team's switched sides. Bohm added a kill to extend the Illini advantage to seven-point advantage before Rutgers scored back-to-back points, leading to the first Illini timeout of the set. Burbage gave the Illini match point with a kill from the pin and Terry's off-speed shot sealed the 15-11 victory in the fifth set.
Up Next
Illinois returns home for a midweek clash against Indiana on Wednesday. First serve from Huff Hall is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.
Notes
- Starters: Brooke Mosher, Raina Terry, Kayla Burbage, Kennedy Collins, Lily Barry, Cari Bohm and Caroline Barnes
- When using this lineup, Illinois is 3-3.
- The Illini wore long sleeved navy jerseys moving to 4-1 this year while donning those.
- The Illinois volleyball program moved to 16-1 against Rutgers all time.
- Head coach Chris Tamas now owns a 9-0 record against the Scarlet Knights.
- The team logged double-digit blocks for the 11th time this year.
- Terry's pair of aces in the match gives the senior 147 for her career, putting her in fifth all-time in program history.
- For the first time this season and the fourth time in her career, Barnes logged 20 or more digs.
- The Fighting Illini is now 3-3 in five-set matches.
- This marked the second time Illinois played back-to-back five-set matches as the team took did so against USC and UCF on Sept. 14-15.
- Illinois extended its winning streak to three matches, the longest this year.
- Attendance on Sunday was called at 1,007.
