COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State (21-8 overall, 9-7 Big Ten) women's volleyball team lost, 3-1 (25-17, 25-8, 18-25, 25-21) to fifth-ranked Illinois (21-4, 13-3) Sunday afternoon in St. John Arena. OSU's Katie Dull posted a team-high 15.5 points in the match with 13 kills, one ace serve, one solo block and one assist block. Kylie McCulley, for Illinois, had a match-high 17 points with 15 kills, one ace serve and two assist blocks.
Tied at two in the first set, Illinois scored five consecutive points to open a 7-2 lead. The Illini expanded the lead to 18-7 before an Amanda Peterson-Kristen Dozier block and two ace serves from Sara Mignin cut the lead to eight at 18-10. Illinois reached set point at 24-16 with a Laura DeBruler kill. A Dozier kill stopped the set point at 24-17. A Buckeye error ended the set at 25-17 to give the Illini a 1-0 lead in the match. Illinois hit .250 for the set to .000 for Ohio State.
An Illinois error gave OSU a 1-0 lead in set two. The Illini then scored eight consecutive points to take an 8-1 lead. Illinois expanded the lead to reach set point at 24-7 with a McCulley kill. OSU stopped the set point with a kill from Dull at 24-8. McCulley closed out the set with a kill at 25-8 to give the Illini a 2-0 lead in the match. Illinois hit .400 for the set to -.190 for the Buckeyes.
With set three tied at one, a kill from Dull and two Illini errors gave Ohio State a 4-1 lead. Illinois, with kills from DeBruler and Johannah Bangert and a Bangert-Michelle Bartsch block tied the set at four. OSU took a 6-4 lead with a Dull-Kelli Barhorst block and an Peterson ace serve. Trailing, 9-8, an Erin Johnson kill and a Rachel Feldman ace serve tied the set at nine for Illinois. Tied at 11, kills from Dull and Barhorst and a Mignin ace serve gave Ohio State a 14-11 lead. At 22-16, OSU, two Illini errors gave the Buckeyes set point at 14-16. Two McCulley kills stopped two set points to cut the lead to 24-18. Ohio State won the set with a kill from Dozier at 25-18 to trail in the match, 2-1. The Buckeyes hit .355 for the set to .107 for Illinois.
Set four was tied at three when a kill from Dull and an ace serve from Peterson gave OSU an early 5-3 lead. Trailing, 8-6, a McCulley kill and an OSU error tied the set at eight. Tied at nine, two kills from Bartsch, one from McCulley and a Bangert-McCulley block opened a 13-9 Illini lead. Trailing, 19-12, Buckeye kills from Dull, Allie Schwarzwalder and Emily Danks and an Illinois error cut the lead to three at 19-16. A Johnson kill made it 20-16. The Illini held the lead to reach match point at 24-20 with a kill from McCulley. A Barhorst kill stopped the match point at 24-21. A Buckeye error ended the set, 25-21, for Illinois, giving them a 3-1 victory in the match. The Illini hit .429 for the set to .256 for Ohio State.
In the match, Illinois hit .297 to .143 for Ohio State. The Illini had a 49-38 margin in kills while each squad posted seven ace serves. OSU's Mignin posted a match-high three aces. The Buckeyes gave up 10 service errors to six for Illinois. At setter, Hillary Haen recorded a match-high 44 assists for the Illini. Ohio State Amanda Peterson had 29 assists coming off the bench and playing in three sets. Defensively, Illinois had a 51-41 advantage in digs. McCulley posted a match-high 14 for the Illini. At the net, Illinois had a 10-6 margin in team blocks. Bangert recorded a match-high five assist blocks for Illinois.
Ohio State returns to the road next week playing at Indiana (15-15, 4-12) Friday and at Purdue (12-15, 4-12) Saturday in 7 p.m. matches.
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