UPSET- #24 Illinois Sweeps #14 Michigan State

MATCH STATS

• #24 Illinois sweeps #14 Michigan State (25-21, 32-30, 25-19)
• Michigan State (15-4, 4-3), Illinois (12-6, 5-2)

In one of the first upsets of the week, No. 24 Illinois swept Michigan State (25-21, 32-30, 25-19) in a Big Ten conference match.

This is just match 1 of Illinois’ 4-match home week. The Illini had a .319 hitting percentage for the night, and a .419 percentage in the first set.

The first set had 12 ties between the teams and four lead changes. Neither team had more than a two-point lead until Illinois broke a 16-16 tie to go on a 3-point run. Michigan State tried to close the gap, but Illinois’ offense won the set.

The real battle was the second set, with Illinois scraping by with a 32-30 win. This was the highest set score since 2014 for the Illini.

QUOTES

“They [the Illini players] really did a good job staying moment to moment and then getting on and focusing on what was in front of them,” said head coach Kevin Hambly. “I thought that was how we finished it the way we did, because they were able to do that. That is a challenge, when you get up and feel comfortable and I think in the past we have just kind of let it go, but they did a really nice job tonight, the best job we have done all night of being moment-to-moment.”

“Something we talked about before the match was not making the same mistake twice,” said sophomore setter Jordyn Poulter. “I think there was a lot of regret after the Wisconsin match about executing when we were up, so we had every intention on every pass and every detail was there [tonight].”

“We really just fought and went after it,” said Crittenden. “It was, I agree comparable to that set [the second set at Wisconsin]; we were up a little bit and they came back but we really grinded that out and I think everyone did a really great job with just putting it all on the court and I am just really happy we were able to finish that and everyone had the right mindset and intentions for that.”

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy of Illinois Athletics

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 24 Illinois volleyball team opened its four-match home stand in dominating fashion as the Illini swept No. 14 Michigan State, 3-0 (25-21, 32-30, 25-19), on Wednesday night (Oct. 12) at Huff Hall.

With the win, the Illini improve to 12-6 and 5-2 in the Big Ten Conference, while the Spartans drop to 15-4 and 4-3 in the league standings.

“They [the Illini players] really did a good job staying moment to moment and then getting on and focusing on what was in front of them,” said head coach Kevin Hambly. “I thought that was how we finished it the way we did, because they were able to do that. That is a challenge, when you get up and feel comfortable and I think in the past we have just kind of let it go, but they did a really nice job tonight, the best job we have done all night of being moment-to-moment.”

“Something we talked about before the match was not making the same mistake twice,” said sophomore setter Jordyn Poulter. “I think there was a lot of regret after the Wisconsin match about executing when we were up, so we had every intention on every pass and every detail was there [tonight].”

The Illini used a balanced attack as five Illini had 17 swings or more on the night. As a team, the Illini registered a .319 hitting percentage for the match, including a .419 mark in the opening set and a .357 clip in the third.

Senior Naya Crittenden paced the Illini for the second-straight match with a match-high 12 kills on 20 swings and only three errors for a .450 hitting percentage, while sophomore Ali Bastianelli turned in 11 kills on 17 attacks and only two errors for a .529 clip. Freshman Jacqueline Quade added 10 kills on 23 swings and only three errors for a .304 hitting percentage.

“If you look at the numbers, we had 25 swings for Michelle Strizak, we had 17 for Ali Bastianelli and she hit .529; Naya had 20, 23 for Katie, 23 for Jackie. We have not had this kind of balance since I have been here, ever. When you have that type of balance on offense it makes it more difficult to defend.”

“Our passers worked extremely hard in their movements and their communication which made it really easy for me to run the offense and distribute it and it was fun to watch them enjoy passing,” added Poulter.

In a back-and-forth first stanza that saw 12 ties and four lead changes, neither team grabbed more than a two-point advantage until the Illini broke a 16-16 tie with three-straight points bookended by a pair Crittenden kills. The Spartans closed with 21-20 with three-straight points of their own, but UI finished off the set by scoring the next four of five points for the 25-21 win.

MSU jumped out quickly in the second and build a 4-1 lead after scoring the first three points in the frame. The Illini battled back to knot things at 8-8 on a Spartan hitting error and then used a 6-2 run to take a 15-11 edge midway through the set. MSU fought back to within one at 15-14, but three-straight points stalled the Spartan rally. Leading by five at 23-18, the Illini looked to close out the second set, but MSU orchestrated a dramatic comeback with six-straight points to set up its first set at 24-23. After a Crittenden kill tied the score at 24-24, the two teams battled back-and-forth for the second set victory with the Illini fighting off four Spartan set points and finally converting their third set point at 31-30 with a kill from senior Michelle Strizak.

The 32-30 second stanza score was the highest set total since the 2014 season when the Illini took a 35-33 win in the opening set against Virginia Tech on September 13.

Following a 4-4 tie in the third, the Illini put together four-straight points for an early 8-4 advantage. The Spartans closed within three twice, at 10-7 and 13-10, but a 6-1 run gave UI control of the set at 19-11. Four-straight points late in the period from the Spartans made it a 22-18 game, but the Illini then shut the door on MSU by taking the next three of four points as a Crittenden sealed the straight-sets victory.

“We really just fought and went after it,” said Crittenden. “It was, I agree comparable to that set [the second set at Wisconsin]; we were up a little bit and they came back but we really grinded that out and I think everyone did a really great job with just putting it all on the court and I am just really happy we were able to finish that and everyone had the right mindset and intentions for that.”

Poulter orchestrated the Illini offense with 49 assists on the night, while adding four blocks in the win.

Senior Katie Stadick led the Orange and Blue with five blocks, with junior Brandi Donnelly totaling a match-high 17 digs.

Along with its offensive prowess, the Illini defense held the Spartans to just a .145 hitting percentage, including holding MSU to sub-.120 numbers in the second and third sets.

Illinois continues its home stand with a rematch against Northwestern on Saturday (Oct. 15) night at 7 p.m. CT in Huff Hall.

What’s Next: Illinois will host Northwestern in their second matchup Saturday at 7 p.m.

Illinois Numbers

Naya Crittenden (12 kills, 3 blocks)
Ali Bastianelli (11 kills, 3 blocks)
Jacqueline Quade (10 kills)
Michelle Strizak (9 kills, 1 block)

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Courtesy of Michigan State Athletics

SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
No. 14 Michigan State fell in a road match at No. 24 Illinois on Wednesday, falling in straight sets (25-21, 32-20, 25-19). MSU rallied from a four-point late deficit in the epic second set (22-18), but couldn’t get the match win despite a valiant fight. MSU falls to 15-4 overall and 4-3 in Big Ten play.

The Spartans hit .145 in the match with 22 hitting errors, its second-most in a Big Ten match this season, while Illinois hit .319, just the fourth opponent to hit .300 or better in a match vs. the Spartans this season. Autumn Bailey and Brooke Kranda each had 11 kills, while lyssa Garvelink posted eight kills without an error and added a season-best seven blocks for the second straight match.

The Spartans return home for a Saturday night match against No. 3 Minnesota at Jenison Field House at 8 pm.

• SET ONE: Tied at 8-8, the teams had combined for five hitting and five service errors. MSU took its first lead of the night at 13-12, on a block by Garveink and Reinig at the right pin, the third block for the Spartans compared to none for the hosts. The teams traded points and one-point leads until the home team pulled ahead 18-16 on their first block of the night by Crittenden, followed by a kill by the senior. After an MSU time out, the Illini took their largest lead at 21-17, but MSU stormed right back with two kills by Garvelink and one Kranda to trim it to one, 21-20, and force Illinois into its second time out. An Ali Bastianelli kill stopped the MSU run, followed by a Spartan shot long. A Caroline Welsh shot gave the Illini set point, but MSU was able to hold it off with a Bailey kill, her third of the night. Bastianelli stepped up with her fifth kill of the frame to close it out for the hosts. Kranda led the Spartans with four kills and a block, while Bailey had three kills on three swings. Illinois hit .419 compard to MSU’s .250.
• SET TWO: MSU posted two kills and two blocks early to take a 5-2 lead, but a kill and a block by Bastianelli got the Illini back within one a 5-4. Illinois took its first lead at 10-9 on a Katie Stadick termination, and took their largest lead at 15-11. The Spartans stormed back with three straight points, to pull within 15-14, but an upheld challenge followed by an Illini block and spartn error allowed the home team to once again establish a four-point edge. MSU and their hosts would jockey back and forth with two-and three-point runs, and MSU called its final time out of the frame aftger a hitting error – its eighth of the set – made it 22-18 Illinois. The Spartans used an impressive serving run by Minarick to cut it to pull ahead 24-23, but a Crittenden kill halted the 6-1 Spartan run. From there, it was a point-for-point battle past 30-30, when MSU’s hitting error gave the Illini set point; a Strizak kill gave the home team a hard-earned second set victory and 2-0 match lead. Biley had six kills for MSU in the frame, while Kranda added five. MSU hit just .113 in the frame with 10 attack errors, while Illinois had 20 kills against just seven errors. (.241) .
• SET THREE: Consecutive hitting errors for MSU after a big block by the Illini left the Spartans in a 8-4 hole, and Cathy George called time out. Illinois pushed its lead out to six at 17-11, and never allowed MSU to mount a serious threat in the late stages of the frame. Illinois kept the pressure on and hit .357, (16-6-21), while MSU had just 10 kills and committed seven miscues that made it too large a deficit to overcome. Garvelink led MSU with five kills in the set.

Quoteable:
“We had that comeback in the second set, and coming out on the short end of that in the end I think took some wind out of our sails. We commiitted far, far too mamy errors to allow ourselves to have much success. We know that we’ll need a much, much better effort come Saturday when we are at home against Minnesota. We have two days of practice to get our heads back on straight and clean up the things that hurt us tonight.”

— Head Coach Cathy George

TOP PERFORMERS

• Autumn Bailey posted 11 kills, and added six digs.
• Alyssa Garvelink had eight kills , hit a team-high . 533 (8-0-15) and added seven blocks, tying her season best for the second straight match.
• Brooke Kranda contributed 11 kills, two digs, and two blocks.STATS AND STORYLINES
• MSU had 10 team blocks, after posting a season-high 12 against Maryland last Saturday.
• The Illini hit .357 in the match, compared to just .145 for MSU. The Spartans are now 0-4 when allowing an opponent to hit .300 or better.
• MSU’s three-match winning streak was halted with the loss to Illinois. The Illini have now won four straight vs. the Spartans.
• Fifteen of MSU’s 19 matches have gone just three sets. MSU owns 12-3 record in three-set affairs.
• Chloe Reinig finished her night with four blocks, four kills, and a pair of digs.
• Rachel Minarick recorded 25 assists, three blocks, and four digs.

What’s Next: The Spartans will host No. 3 Minnesota Saturday night at 8 p.m.

Spartan Stats

Autumn Bailey (11 kills, 6 digs)
Brooke Kranda (11 kills, 2 digs, 2 blocks)
Alyssa Garvelink (8 kills, 7 blocks)
Abby Monson (8 digs)

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