NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois volleyball team swept its competition with a perfect 9-0 mark in sets on the weekend as the Illini cruised to the Redbird Classic title following a straight-sets win (25-19, 25-21, 25-12) over North Texas on Saturday (Sept. 18) in Redbird Arena.
With the win, the Illini move to 8-3 on the season, marking their best start to a season since starting the 2018 season at 14-0.
It was a balanced attack for the Illini, with sophomore Raina Terry leading the way with 10 kills to go along with eight digs, a team-high four aces and two blocks. Juniors Kennedy Collins and Jessica Nunge each turned in nine kills in the win, with Nunge boasting a season-best .471 hitting percentage after committing just one error on 17 swings. Collins also paced the UI blocking effort with three stuffs on the day.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown registered 33 assists as the Illini hit at a .225 attack clip, while also adding eight digs.
Senior Taylor Kuper led the defensive effort with 16 digs with the Illini holding UNT (7-5) to a .108 team hitting percentage. The Lenexa, Kansas native also added three aces in the win.
It was a tight battle to start the match with a Cooney kill giving the Illini an early 5-2 advantage, before UNT came back to knot the score at 8-8. The Illini then broke a 9-9 tie with a 10-3 run to take a 19-12 lead following a Terry and Collins block. The Mean Green answered back with three-straight scores to close within 19-15 and force a UI timeout. Back-to-back Illini points out of the break pushed the edge back to 21-15 as the two teams traded points until a Kuper ace sealed the 25-19 set win.
It was all UNT to start the second as the Mean Green scored the first eight points of the stanza. After a UNT ace made it 11-2, the Illini responded with a 13-4 run – capped by back-to-back Terry aces – to come all the way back and even the score at 15-15. In a set of runs, the Mean Green answered back with four-straight points to retake their advantage at 19-15, but it was all Illini after that as a kill from junior Kyla Swanson kicked off a 10-2 run that included six-straight scores to close out the set as another Illini ace – this time from Nunge – finished off the 25-21 second set.
The Illini continued their momentum into the third period as an 10-3 start turned into a 16-6 lead following a Terry kill. A UNT block stalled the UI rally, but that would be as close as the Mean Green would get as another 6-2 Illini run pushed the edge to 22-9 following a Terry kill. UNT would take the next three of four points, but a Swanson kill combined with a UI triple block sent Illinois to the 3-0 sweep with the 25-12 win in the third.
Illinois next travels to Iowa City, Iowa, to open Big Ten Conference play against Iowa on Wednesday (Sept. 22) in a Big Ten Network-televised match at 6 p.m. CT.
For more Fighting Illini volleyball news, stay tuned to FightingIllini.com and follow @IlliniVBall on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook.
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September 19, 2021 at 01:06AM
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Illini Claim Redbird Classic Title with Sweep of North Texas - University of Illinois Athletics - Fighting Illini
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