Illinois volleyball sweeps Rutgers

With Morganne Criswell sidelined with a left knee injury, sophomore Michelle Strizak stepped up for the Illinois volleyball team on Sunday.

Illinois (21-6, 13-3 Big Ten) cruised to a three-set victory over Rutgers (7-22, 0-16) on Sunday behind a career best 13 kills from Strizak.

In four sets against Ohio State, Strizak was held to a .160 hitting percentage and converted 25 swings into just six kills. The sophomore felt as though she was more effective Sunday — in part due to the play of setter Alexis Viliunas.  

“Lex was doing a great job of distributing the ball around,” Strizak said. “I think I did a better job of hitting open spaces and using the block more. I think I made some good decisions.”

Jocelynn Birks chipped in 10 kills and Liz McMahon added nine in a balanced Illini attack.

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Illinois opened the match on a tear, hitting .609 as a team in the first set. The Illini jumped to a 9-3 lead and Rutgers couldn’t get close in the 25-11 decision.

“They’re an improved team that is competing and figured out what it means to be in the Big Ten,” head coach Kevin Hambly said. “In the first set, we handled them pretty well but the next two sets were a battle and could have gone either way.”

In the second and third sets, the Illini were tested although they pulled out both to sweep the Scarlet Knights.

In the tightly contested second set, neither team led by more than three points. With the score tied at 23, kills from Viliunas and Birks clinched the set.

In the third, it was Rutgers who jumped to a quick lead and went up 15-7. Illinois regrouped and tied the match at 23. However, back to back errors from Rutgers setter Talia Holze gave Illinois its 21st victory of the season.

“We played really well at the end of sets,” Hambly said. “I liked how we closed out sets.”

Sophomore Micaela Anderson led Rutgers in both kills and digs, with 11 and nine , respectively. The Scarlet Knights have lost 16 consecutive matches and have yet to earn a victory in conference play this season.

Stephen can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @steve_bourbon.