LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Behind a standout performance from redshirt-senior Jocelynn Birks, the Fighting Illini volleyball team earned a trip to the NCAA Regionals for the seventh time in eight years with a hard-fought 3-1 (15-25, 25-22, 25-18, 27-25) victory over No. 15 seed and host Louisville on Saturday (Dec. 5) night at Cardinal Arena.
With the win, the Illini move to 21-12 on the season and will next meet a familiar foe in fellow Big Ten member and second-seeded Minnesota in the Regional Semifinals next Friday (Dec. 11) at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa at either 5 p.m. CT or 7:30 p.m. It is the Orange and Blue's 15th Sweet 16 appearance in program history.
Louisville, who won the 2015 Atlantic Coast Conference title, wraps up its season with an overall mark of 25-7.
"I thought they [Louisville] put on an amazing event," said head coach Kevin Hambly. "I thought the things they did from giving us little Louisville Slugger bats, to the way that they treated us - it was a great. They did a great job hosting us and we feel very welcome and it was a credit to the whole staff. I know there were a lot of people behind the scenes working on that so just from Illinois, thank you for that."
"I thought and again with that, congratulations to Louisville, they had a great season. We saw them first match of the year and they made a lot of improvements throughout the year. They were tough and in this place it was a battle. I think the key for us at least was they came out hot - and you knew they could be an emotional team - we had to manage the emotions of the event in this place. I thought it got away from us in the first set and we started to kind of calm down and play a lot better until the very, very end when things got very, very dicey there. But, it was great to see our team makes some plays and see Louisville fight as hard as they did when they were down. It was just a good match to be a part of from our standpoint and my standpoint because it was a battle. Both teams had to fight for it and it was fun. It was a good way to end our first and second rounds."
Birks kept her best for last as she came within two kills of tying her career-high with a season-high 26 kills on 54 swings and only three errors for a hitting percentage of .426, while adding 10 digs for her 14th double-double of the season and the 56th of her career.
"Jocelynn has been a leader for us all year," said Hambly of his senior leader. "She doesn't want the season to end, none of them do, but this is the best I have seen her lead the group. That is the thing I would say and even yesterday she was great. It wasn't her best match as far as statistically but it was probably her second best match as a leader and making sure the team stayed on the things they needed to stay on. She has been trying to figure that out all year and she has been looked at to lead and I feel that she has finally taken the reigns and just in time I hope to try and pull off something and make a run."
After the Illini opened the first set with a 2-1 advantage, the Cardinals put together a 10-2 run to grab the momentum of the set and an 11-4 lead. UI responded with three-straight points as freshman Ali Bastianelli and junior Naya Crittenden teamed up for a block to make it 11-7. Another run from the Cards pushed the deficit to 16-8 midway through the opening period. The Illini closed within 18-13 on Birks kill, but a 6-0 run from UL gave the home team set point at 24-13. After the Illini killed off two set points, the Cards finished to take the first, 25-15.
Back-to-back Crittenden kills started off the second set before the two teams traded points with four ties over the next several points. Tied at 5-5, UI used a mini 6-2 run to take an 11-7 advantage, but the Cardinals fought back to even the score at 14-14. It was back-and-forth action as the set saw the score tied seven more times. With the score knotted at 22-22, the Illini finished off the set with three-straight points on kills from Birks, junior Michelle Strizak and freshman Jordyn Poulter.
The battle continued into the third as both team traded points throughout the start of the set. After a Louisville attack error broke an 8-8 tie and gave Illinois a lead it would not relinquish, the Cards fought back to cut the edge to one at 12-11. Five-straight points bookended by Birks kills then put the set mostly out of reach for UL. Leading by seven at 20-13, three-straight Cardinal points would make things interesting, but a 4-1 Illini run closed out the set at 25-18.
Leading 2-1 in the match, the Illini jumped out to a 4-2 edge before the Cardinals evened things up at 5-5. A kill from junior Katie Stadick followed by a Strizak and Bastianelli block gave Illinois a lead it would hold until late in the set. Holding onto a three-point advantage at 13-10, the Illini used kills from Poulter and Strizak to extend their lead to 16-11. An attack error from the home team then gave UI a 21-15 edge as the Illini looked to finished off the set and the match. The Cards were not done yet, however, as they used a 6-1 run to close within 22-21. A Birks kill followed by a Poulter-Stadick block then set up match point at 24-21. One point away from elimination, Louisville answered with four-straight points to earn their own set point at 25-24 as the hometown crowds rose to its feet. Despite the crowd, the Illini stayed calm as a Stadick kill evened the score at 25-25, before back-to-back blocks from Bastianelli and Poulter sent the Illini to the Sweet 16.
"The next week in practice is going to be about whatever team were going to be playing," said Birks. [We will be] focusing on us getting better and managing whoever we play and their style of play and then just being prepared for that emotion and bringing that to the next round because it's obviously not going to be as crazy. It's not going to be someone's home court so were going to have to bring our own energy."
I was really, really happy tonight with the way that we played especially the emotional level," added Crittenden. "We really fought for it even though toward the end it got a little away from us just a little bit. We really fought and it was really good to see that. I really hope we continue to carry that throughout."
As a team, the Orange and Blue registered a .252 hitting percentage, while holding the Cardinals to a .200 hitting percentage – including a .070 mark in the fourth set. Illinois outblocked UL, 11 to six and collected 75 digs to Louisville's 62.
Crittenden joined Birks in double figures with 11 kills and four errors on 22 attacks for a .318 hitting percentage, while Strizak and Stadick added eight and seven kills, respectively.
Poulter quarterbacked the Illini offense with 46 assists and also notched six block assists on the night. Bastianelli led UI at the net with seven blocks in the win.
Defensively, senior Julia Conard paced the Illini with 16 digs, while sophomore Brandi Donnelly had 13 and senior Ali Stark contributed 10.
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