Illinois snatches final round ticket from Buckeyes after fierce battle - Volleyball
The third-seeded Illinois University women’s volleyball team made a big breakthrough on Friday night, December 9, by beating Ohio State Buckeyes in the regional semi-final. They sent 23-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-19 on board and settled for a 3-1 victory, which
enabled Illini to reserve a berth at the regional finals of NCAA tournament for the first time since 1992. The match was played at O’Connell Centre in Gainesville, Florida.
With the help of one more victory in the season, Illinois moved to an overall record of 30-4. This is the seventh time in school history that Illinois touched the 30 mark. This was also Illini’s eighth straight victory against Ohio State in the series between
two schools.
Illini’s victory was very much credited to sophomore libero Jennifer Beltran, who perhaps gave her the best performance with 26 digs in the match. Hambly, the team coach, complimented Beltran for her wonderful defence work in the match. He stated: “We made
some mistakes on blocking and defense, but she erased those mistakes with great plays. I credit her to being extremely tough because I thought she was really struggling tonight in that first set."
Elsewhere, Michelle Bartsch and Rachel Feldman did well for Illinois. Senior Bartsch helped Illini with powerful swings and smart shots. She recorded 18 kills with outstanding hitting percentage of .362.
The Buckeyes showed extreme power in the opening set. Emily Danks came strong of Illini and managed to land most of her shots in the opponent’s half. Illinois failed to post appropriate blocks and went through a lot of pain after losing opening set to Ohio
State.
However, the loss of very first set in the game forced Illinois to make some defensive adjustments. They fought with determination and dismantled the power of Buckeyes. Illini led the scores 16-11 before Ohio State added 10-4 run and retook the lead (21-20).
Colleen Ward supported Illini in the need of hour with powerful hits. The game of hit ‘n’ run continued till the end of second set, which ended in Illini’s favour (26-24).
It was the jumpstart for Illini as they never looked back from that point onward. They posted 25-23, 25-19 in next two sets and bagged 3-1 victory.
Illinois committed 21 attack errors in the match, which obviously did not leave a good impression on Coach Hambly’s mind. Nevertheless, he appreciated the team-work in his post-match comments. He said: "It wasn't our best match, but I'm proud of the girls
for figuring out a way to win. That's what it's about. We talk about that a lot; we're not always going to be at our best but we have to be the best we can be on this given night. I felt like they had to fight through some things and figure out a way to win
and I'm proud of the effort tonight. I'm proud they persevered."
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