Illinois volleyball (4-0, 0-0) has moved the winning streak to four in a row with a win over Toledo in the Cyclone Invitational, making this the first time since 2018 that the team has started 4-0. In that season, the team won their first 15 games, finished the season 32-4 and lost to Nebraska in the final four of the NCAA tournament.
The win is head coach Chris Tamas’ first-ever win over Toledo, and the second time these two programs have met.
Graduate student outside hitter Raina Terry put up a huge 15-kill performance. Terry is the only Illinois player who went into double figures for kills during the game. The Ohio native also had two aces and two blocks while hitting for a .519 hitting percentage.
Illinois had two players who had eight kills in the game, junior outside hitter Averie Hernandez and freshman outside hitter Laynie Smith. Hernandez included one block while hitting for a .278 during the match.
“The last couple years we relied heavily on Raina, and you know, I told her part of her challenge is you’re not going to get every single ball anymore,” Tamas said. “We have enough arms to spread around, and that’s a good thing and able to get to produce those kills from lots of different positions.”
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Illinois got off to a hot start during set one, going up 12-3 off the back of a 9-0 scoring run that was led by Hernandez. She led the team in service aces and finished with three total in the game.
Illinois continued its hot streak prior to a 17-7 lead over Toledo before they called a timeout. Coming out of this break, Illinois racked off nine straight points over Toledo that were capped off by a kill coming from redshirt freshman outside hitter Taylor de Boer, which pushed Illinois to win set one 25-9. The kill from de Boer is only her second career kill.
The second set was closer as each team battled each other, going point-for-point during this set, but Illinois was able to pull away off of a 3-0 scoring run that also included a service ace from Hernandez, and that got Illinois ahead 18-15. This run was enough for Illinois to hold on to the momentum and helped the team win the set 25-29 off another 3-0 scoring run.
Illinois continued with the momentum they gained during set two into set three as they jumped out to a 13-9 lead before Toledo called a timeout. The timeout did not stall Illinois on offense as they led Toledo by six before Toledo burned its last timeout. Illinois continued to ride the momentum wave after this to win the final set 25-18.
Illinois will face Iowa State on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, at 4 p.m. on ESPN+ to continue the Cyclone Invitational. They will close off the weekend against Wake Forest on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 4 p.m.
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