Still reeling from the five-set loss to Iowa (13-11, 4-8), Illinois (12-10, 7-6) walked into a loud Bob Devaney Sports Center for a mid-week matchup. It faced its biggest challenge of the season in the form of No. 1 Nebraska (23-0, 13-0). The only unbeaten team in the conference was too much for the Illini to handle as they fell 3-0.
It never looked like the Illini were in the game. The Cornhuskers jumped out to an 11-3 lead in set one and never looked back.
Bullseye
Nebraska’s offense clicked from the opening serve. It earned 20 of its 25 first-set points with kills. The Cornhuskers hit at a 0.714 hitting percentage in the first set and bulldozed the Illini, with eight different players earning a kill.
Making a defensive stand is that much harder when the opposition has such a plethora of attacking options. Junior middle blocker Andi Jackson, freshman opposite hitter Virginia Adriano and junior outside hitter Harper Murray shared kills to dismantle the Illini defense. Spikes flew from both sides of the court, and despite several Illini efforts, it was one-way traffic.
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In contrast to the powerful Nebraska offense, Illinois’ hitters could not keep up with the high-intensity back-and-forth. The Illini managed just a 0.095 hitting percentage through the game. If the lack of kills was not enough, errors also piled up for Illinois.
The Illini struggled to carry any momentum. They would often give the advantage back to the Cornhuskers after picking up a point. Six service errors, two blocking errors and 16 attack errors made it inevitable for both the Illini offense and defense to fall flat.
Choboy, oh boy!
The best the Illini could do in a single set was 15 points. That effort came in the second set, where the team stuck with the Cornhuskers for a fair share of the set.
The Illini drew as close as a 9-8 deficit, but it was the impenetrable Cornhusker defense that made the difference. With the score 15-10, Nebraska started to pull ahead, but it was one of the following plays that shut the door for Illinois.
Junior defensive specialist and libero Laney Choboy dove near the left front to save an Illinois tip. Redshirt sophomore opposite Auburn Tomkinson and sophomore middle blocker Ashlyn Philpot then combined for a block that would have sealed a point if not for a flying Choboy, who secured a dig resulting in a Nebraska kill.
The momentum, already with the Cornhuskers, completely shifted to one side. Illinois only managed 19 more points in the game, while Nebraska put up 35.
No offense, no defense
While Jackson put up nine kills with a 1.000 hitting percentage, Illinois’ offense and defense struggled to get going. Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Taylor de Boer led the team with eight kills, failing to register double-digit kills for only the third time this season and the first time in 12 matches.
The team only put up five blocks, failing to stop Nebraska’s attacks. It was a systemic breakdown against the top team in the nation that has now taken Illinois to a five-game losing streak. It moves one step closer to a .500 record in conference play and now has suffered four sweeps over its last five games.
Another ranked matchup
Illinois returns home for a three-game home stand to begin the final seven games of the season. Of these seven, four will be against ranked opponents. No. 25 Penn State (13-9, 7-5) is its next challenge Sunday at 3:30 p.m. It’s the Huff Hall Centennial Celebration game, and the fans will be expecting a bounce-back out of the stumbling Illini.
The team is in desperate need of a win and needs to figure things out quickly. If it wasn’t time to hit the panic button before Thursday, it certainly is now. The offense and defense both need to return to keep the Illini in contention for the NCAA tournament.
