Volleyball In Close Second Set In Loss At Illinois

Wednesday, October 12

Champaign, Ill.

8:00 PM (ET)

Rutgers University

7-12,1-6Big Ten

Illinois

9-8,4-3Big Ten

Rutgers

Illinois

Taylor Humphrey on the court against Michigan State at Jersey Mike's Arena in September

Photo by: Tom Gilbert

Volleyball In Close Second Set In Loss At Illinois

Oct 12 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score - Illinois

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Rutgers volleyball team nearly came out on top for a second set victory on Wednesday night at Huff Hall, but the host Fighting Illini pulled out the set and match win against the Scarlet Knights.

Illinois claimed a 25-16 opening set win and took the second set 26-24 in a frame that saw 11 ties and seven lead changes. Rutgers dropped the final set 25-17 as the Fighting Illini captured the 3-0 victory.

STANDOUT STATS

Freshman Taylor Humphrey led the offense with nine kills while also collecting three blocks on defense.
Classmate Bekah Williams tallied eight kills and five digs.
Redshirt junior Lauren DeLo notched 20 assists.
Junior Kristina Grkovic totaled four blocks, while junior Madyson Chitty had a team-high 10 digs.
Rutgers led 4-3 in aces with four different Scarlet Knights scoring off the serve.

KEY MOMENTS

SET 1 (16-25) | The Scarlet Knights trailed 7-5 when the hosts produced a 5-1 run to extend its lead. A Taylor Humphrey attack coupled with a pair of Illini errors kept the opening frame close with RU down 13-9, but another 5-1 burst pushed the Illinois edge to eight. Rutgers closed the gap with a 4-1 run including one of Williams' three kills to set the score at 19-14. The Fighting Illini, however, outscored RU 6-2 to go up 1-0.
SET 2 (24-26) | Rutgers led 23-21 down the stretch however the Fighting Illini pulled out the win behind a 5-1 run and an unsuccessful Scarlet Knight challenge on the final point. An Illinois service error tied the set up for the seventh time at 17-17 while RU took the lead thanks to an Alissa Kinkela ace and back-to-back attack errors by the home team. Grkovic served up an ace for the Scarlet Knights to lead 23-21. Humphrey contributed five kills in the close set.
SET 3 (17-15) | Madyson Chitty served up an ace knotting the third frame at 6-6. Illinois, however, posted four of the next five points to remain in front the rest of the way. The Scarlet Knights narrowed their deficit to two twice. A Williams swing saw RU down 10-8, and a kill from Grkovic had Rutgers behind 12-10. After committing 13 errors on the attack in the first two sets, Rutgers limited the miscues to only four in the final set. The Fighting Illini, however, hit a match-best .368. Humphrey added a trio of kills to her total.