Illinois volleyball (15-6, 7-4) took a season sweep over Northwestern this weekend. Both times these teams have competed this season, Illinois came out victorious in four sets.
The team is now one game behind its win total count from last season. The 2023 campaign finished with Illinois having 16 total wins, but the current team has met 15 wins in less time.
This is the 12th win head coach Chris Tamas has notched against Northwestern. Illinois is now 67-32 all-time against Northwestern.
The good
Graduate student outside hitter Raina Terry firmly cemented herself in the program’s history, as she now is the all-time leader in points for the Illini.
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Terry finished the match with 15 kills, 10 digs, five aces and two blocks, pacing the team in three out of the four categories. She also notched a .214 hitting percentage against Northwestern.
“When I came here as a freshman, I never thought that I would even be in the record books,” Terry said. “It’s a cool feeling; it’s awesome. I can’t say much about it. It’s just awesome.”
The two freshmen for Illinois following Terry offensively were freshman middle blocker Ashlyn Philpot and freshman outside hitter Laynie Smith. Both athletes finished with 10-kill games. Philpot tied for first on the team in the blocks category against Northwestern.
As a team, Illinois held Northwestern to just a .088 hitting percentage. On the other side of things, Illinois as a unit put up a .233 hitting percentage. At the service line, Illinois took advantage of Northwestern with nine aces compared to Northwestern’s seven.
The win marks the first time Illinois won in Evanston since 2021. That win was coincidentally another four-set victory. This recent victory helps keep Illinois in the upper half of the conference, sitting tied at eighth.
The bad
Illinois’ biggest struggle all year has been giving away free points at the line with service errors. The team is currently sixth in serve errors.
Illinois has 213 total serve errors in the year. Seventy of them belong to redshirt junior setter Brooke Mosher.
This game was no different, as Illinois had two more service errors than Northwestern. Total errors showed Northwestern losing in that category, with 40 total errors to Illinois’ three.
“We gave up too many points in the first set, and I wasn’t happy with any of the misses and some of the decisions we were making,” Tamas said. “That’s what makes it difficult. It’s a long season, and you’ve got to be able to handle these moments a little bit better.”
Northwestern currently sits at 16th in the Big Ten, and it was unable to take advantage of the opportunity Illinois gave since Illinois’ defense made up for its mistakes at the line.
The ugly
Illinois heads home this Sunday to take on No. 7 Wisconsin at 1 p.m. Wisconsin is coming off a sweep loss to No. 2 Nebraska. It has been at the top of the standings all year, alongside No. 3 Penn State.
The Illini have found their footing again since they won two of their last three. Now, they will go up against their toughest opponent since losing to the Cornhuskers twice this year.
Wisconsin will be hungry to get back in the win column, while Illinois will attempt to continue the momentum it has built over the last couple of weeks. The two schools have been neck-and-neck in the record. Illinois leads the series, but Wisconsin has won the last nine matchups between the two squads.
The game will be played at Huff Hall at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3, and livestreamed on Big Ten Plus.
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