Despite a snap of its five-game win streak over the weekend, Illinois volleyball (14-6, 6-4) still managed to end the weekend with a win. The team went 1-1 with a win over Iowa and a loss to No. 2 Nebraska.
Illinois started the weekend with a straight-set loss to Nebraska before earning a much-needed bounce-back win over Iowa. The loss against Nebraska is the 32nd in program history.
Illinois is still searching for a way to top the beast that is Nebraska volleyball. The Illini needed a comeback victory, and that’s exactly what they got with a four-set win over the Hawkeyes. The win is the 72nd in program history and head coach Chris Tamas’ 13th straight victory against Iowa.
The treat of the weekend
Graduate student outside hitter Raina Terry had herself a weekend, especially against Iowa. Terry became the third player in Big Ten history to get 200 career aces during the rally-scoring era.
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The Ohio native paced the way in both games, with 18 kills against Iowa and 15 against Nebraska. She had 22.5 points against Iowa, which was enough to make her the program leader in career points at 2,311.5 points.
Junior outside hitter Averie Hernandez was second in kills against Iowa and obtained 12 of her own. Also, redshirt sophomore middle blocker Cari Bohm was perfect in the game, not committing a single error with a one-hitting percentage.
Illinois only gave up a single set to Iowa. Momentum appeared to swing in the Hawkeyes’ favor as a result, but the Illini rebounded for a dominant fourth set.
“You’re not always going to control every single moment of the game, but I thought we really controlled that fourth set,” Tamas said. “I thought that we made a few bad choices, and we’ve got to manage those a little bit better, but that happens.”
The trick of the weekend
Between these last two games, Terry has had 33 kills, three aces and seven blocks, and it was only enough to beat one competitor.
This win over Iowa helped Illinois stay afloat in the conference standings. The team is currently tied for ninth place with USC and Michigan. Illinois has already played and beat Michigan this year and finished in a dominant straight-set sweep.
This weekend was the last time Nebraska sophomore setter Bergen Reilly and Illinois senior setter Raegen Reilly will face each other. The younger sister got the last laugh with Nebraska’s win over Illinois.
“It was so cool,” Raegen Reilly said. “It was just a great experience that I never thought I would have. To be able to do it not once, but twice — it was just so special.”
The downright scary of the weekend
Nebraska has been an absolute monster the entire season in the Big Ten. It is tied for first in conference standings with No. 3 Penn State and is No. 2 in the top 25. The last three times Illinois and Nebraska faced off, Nebraska outpaced Illinois nine sets to one. The last time Illinois won a set against Nebraska was in 2023 during their final meeting in Lincoln.
Illinois is through the halfway point of Big Ten competition and still has 10 games left to play. Every game matters to this point, as Illinois is two wins shy of matching its total wins from last season.
“You see, kind of around the country, some teams are pulling some sets, pulling some matches,” Tamas said. “We’ve got to just make sure we keep taking care of business.”
Illinois has another chance to get back to work as they take on Northwestern for the second and final time this season on Friday. The first hit is at 7 p.m., and the game will be on Big Ten Plus.
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