Illinois (11-10, 6-5) will host No.16 Purdue Boilermakers (14-6, 8-3) this Saturday following their previous five-set victory over Indiana. The Illini will put their four-game win streak on the line against the Boilermakers, hoping to get revenge for the loss they suffered earlier in the year.
Senior outside hitter Raina Terry had another big game for the Illini over the Hoosiers, putting up 19 kills on the night while having one service ace in the matchup.
Graduate student middle blocker Kennedy Collins was another Illini who had a massive game against the Hoosiers. Collins had five service aces and put 12 kills on the board.
“I just trusted my serve, I just went for it, I didn’t let up, I didn’t think about it too much and that helped me serve better,” Collins said. “We had a go-all-out mentality, we came in with that mindset that we needed to beat this team and we did that. I think that helped us tonight.”
Collins added another four blocks to her stat line against the Hoosiers. Redshirt freshman Cari Bohm also made some big plays to beat the Hoosiers, putting up 10 kills and three blocks.
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As for the opponents, Purdue took on Minnesota in its last match, winning in straight sets. Sophomore outside hitter Eva Hudson led the Boilermakers in kills, putting up 17 on the night. She also had eight digs and three blocks.
Freshman outside hitter Chloe Chicoine was second on the team in kills against the Gophers, putting up 11 kills. Chicoine also had 30 attacks in the match but had one error. She also had six digs to finish the match.
The matchup on Saturday is a rematch from Oct. 4, which Illinois lost in straight sets. The loss was the start of a three-game losing streak for the Illini before the team managed to break it with a win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Oct. 15.
Purdue has gone on a four-game win streak of their own preceding their upcoming match against Illinois, and they have only lost one game. Since the Illinois game on Oct. 4, Purdue has not played more than four sets in a single match. This also includes the loss Purdue took to Indiana on Oct. 18.
Head coach Chris Tamas is 5-5 against the Boilermakers with a program record of 50-45, but the Illini have lost the last three matchups between the two. When playing Purdue at home, Illinois is 28-16 all-time.
The first hit is at 6 p.m. at Huff Hall in Champaign. The game will be streamed on Big Ten Plus and the radio broadcast will be on WDWS 93.9 FM and 1400AM. Fans can also find an audio stream at fightingillini.com/live.
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