#6 Illinois Rallies Past #14 Creighton for Illini Classic Title

  0 Wendy Mayer | September 15th, 2018 | Big East, Big Ten, College - Women's Indoor, Division I Mid-Major, News

Illini Classic

  • Champaign, Illinois
  • Sept. 14-15, 2018

The Illini recovered after dropping the opening set against No. 14 Creighton in the tournament finale, winning three straight sets to stay perfect on the season at 11-0. Earlier in the day, Illinois swept Lipscomb and Creighton swept Northern Iowa.

Standings

  1. Illinois 3-0
  2. Creighton 2-1
  3. Northern Iowa 1-2
  4. Lipscomb 0-3

Friday Results

  • Northern Iowa def. Lipscomb 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-16)
  • Illinois def. Northern Iowa 3-0 (25-13, 26-24, 25-21)
  • Creighton def. Lipscomb 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-23)

#6 Illinois def. Lipscomb 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-11)

  • Illinois moves to 10-0; Lipscomb falls to 5-7
  • Box Score
  • Illinois Recap / Lipscomb Recap

Notables

  • The Illini committed just three hitting errors in the match for a .513 effort, while limiting Lipscomb to a .024 effort.
  • Illinois put up 15 blocks, while allowing just one. The Illini also boasted a 43-25 advantage in kills and 5-3 edge in aces.
  • Jacqueline Quade (13) and Megan Cooney (12) led the Illini offense with double-digit kill efforts, while hitting .480 or better. Beth Prince added eight putaways on an errorless .571 effort (8-0-14).
  • Ali Bastianelli guided the Illinois block with eight stuffs, while Cooney and Ashlyn Fleming added five apiece.
  • Carlyle Nusbaum registered 11 kills for Lipscomb, while Maddie Phillips added seven putaways on a .429 hitting effort (7-1-14).
  • Leading by just two at 9-7 in Set 3, Illinois broke the game open with a 14-2 run. Prince notched three kills and a block as the team went up 23-9. Two kills by Cooney sealed the sweep. 

 

#14 Creighton def. (RV) Northern Iowa 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-11)

  • Creighton moved to 8-3; UNI fell to 6-6
  • Box Score
  • Creighton Recap / UNI Recap

Notables

  • Creighton hit at a nearly .300 clip in all three sets, culminating in an error-free .407 effort in Set 3 (11-0-27). Northern Iowa, on the other hand, could not get out of its own way, committing 18 miscues and hitting .000 and .032 in Sets 1 and 3.
  • Creighton outdid the Panthers in kills (41-30), aces (8-4) and blocks (5-1).
  • A balanced attack saw four Bluejays notch seven or more kills in the match: Taryn Kloth (9), Jaela Zimmerman (8), Jaali Winters (7) and Megan Ballenger (7). Zimmerman hit at a team-best .533 clip (8-0-15).
  • Annika Welty served up five of Creighton’s eight aces and put up a team-high three blocks.
  • Piper Thomas put down 11 kills to lead Northern Iowa. Karlie Taylor added seven kills, 10 digs and two aces, but hit .000 (7-7-29).
  • Creighton built a 5-1 lead early in Set 3 and never looked back. It was a five-point game midway through at 12-7, but the Bluejays poured it on from there, closing out the match on a 13-4 run. Welty served up three aces in the final stretch, while a service error and a Winters putaway ended the night.
  • The match was a rematch of the teams’ August 24 meeting in Los Angeles, which the Panthers won in a sweep.

#6 Illinois def. #14 Creighton 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-23)

Notables

  • After hitting just .116 in the opening stanza, Illinois hit .280 or better the rest of the way, en route to outhitting Creighton .241 to .211 for the match.
  • Illinois piled up 14 blocks in the match to distance itself in an otherwise close match. The Bluejays boasted a 57-55 lead in kills, but committed five more hitting errors and were outblocked 14-2. Both teams managed five aces.
  • Jacqueline Quade notched 21 kills, seven digs and two aces to pace the Illini. Megan Cooney also turned in double-digit putdowns with 12 to go with five blocks.
  • Ali Bastianelli registered nine blocks to guide Illinois at the net.
  • Jordyn Poulter posted her fourth double-double of the year with 45 assists and 15 digs for the Illini.
  • Taryn Kloth put down a match-high 23 kills, while Jaali Winters notched an 11-kill, 10-dig double-double for the Bluejays.
  • Madelyn Cole just missed a double-double with 41 assists and nine digs.
  • Illinois raced out to a 7-1 lead in Set 4 and fought to hold off the Bluejays, while narrowed the gap to one three times, last at 11-10. Down 17-12, Creighton rallied with seven straight points, including four Winters kills, to go up 19-17. Trailing 20-18, Illinois closed out the win with a final 7-3 push. Quade had three kills in the final push, while Bastianelli and Poulter teamed up for a block to win it at 25-23.

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About Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer has worked in athletics media relations for the last 20 years. The Northwest Missouri State alumna is currently senior writer for Volleymob.com after spending the last 15 years with Purdue athletics.

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