Ohio State
16-2, 5-1
Illinois
11-6, 2-4
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio State | 25 | 24 | 25 | 27 | 3 |
| Illinois | 20 | 26 | 18 | 25 | 1 |
Wins Keep Coming for #9 Ohio State Women’s Volleyball – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 10, 2015
RELATED INFO
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 9 Ohio State University women’s volleyball team set itself up for a first place battle in the Big Ten next Friday (Oct. 16) by defeating No. 13 Illinois Saturday (Oct. 10) night in four sets. With the win, Ohio State improves to 16-2 overall and 5-1 in Big Ten play. The Buckeyes play host to B1G-leading Purdue (15-2, 6-0) at 7 p.m. ET inside St. John Arena; broadcast nationally on the Big Ten Network. Ohio State owns a 6-0 mark against Top-20 opponents this season entering the upcoming tilt vs. No. 19 Purdue.
The final scoreboard in Champaign read: 25-20, 24-26, 25-18, 27-25. Ohio State has now won five straight conference contests.
Elizabeth Campbell paced all players with 20 points coming on 18 kills and four block assists. Reigning Big Ten Player of the Week, Audra Appold, was responsible for 19.5 points thanks to 17 kills, two blocks (one solo) and a service ace. Katie Mitchell and Taylor Sandbothe put forth double-digit kill efforts as well, combining for 21 terminations. Freshman setter Taylor Hughes set a new career high of 52 assists as the Buckeyes attacked .271 (68-23-166).
Defensively, the Buckeyes racked up 13 team blocks. The Taylor Twosome of Hughes and Sandbothe each compiled five block assists while Sandbothe added in a solo stuff. Appold and Valeria León dug up 19 balls apiece, helping to limit the Fighting Illini to an attacking percentage of just .172 as a team.
Mitchell took care of business in the opening set, hammering home seven kills with a lone error on 13 attempts. Locked up at 4-4 early in the frame, Mitchell terminated three of four points with kills and OSU took the lead for good in the 25-20 winner.
Set number two was all Illinois through the midway point. The Illini lead by as many as seven points at 17-10 before a Buckeye flurry made it interesting late. Ohio State would crawl all the way back to even the ledger at 24-all before Illinois closed it out 26-24.
The third set was not a pretty one for either offense, but the Buckeye defense shined brightly. Ohio State rejected Illinois seven times and pushed the Illini hitting efficiency down to .024. The first five tallies went to OSU and the Scarlet & Gray never relinquished its advantage en route to a 25-18 triumph.
Deju vu set in during the fourth set as Illinois held the upper hand for the majority of the period. This time, however, the Ohio State push was not fully refuted. Luisa Schirmer capped off the come-from-behind charge with a kill for the 27th point of a 27-25 match-clincher.
In addition to the Purdue clash Friday, St. John Arena is also slated to play host to the Indiana Hoosiers on Sunday (Oct. 18) at 1 p.m. ET.
