Saturday, August 29
Champaign, Ill.
7:30 PM
Creighton University
1-2
0
at
3
Illinois
3-0
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2
3
F
Creighton
22
20
17
0
Illinois
25
25
25
3
No. 8 Illini Sweeps Creighton Volleyball; Smith Named All-Tourney
8/29/2015 9:52:00 PM | Volleyball
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Eighth-ranked Illinois completed a perfect weekend at the Illini Classic with a 3-0 win over Creighton Volleyball on Saturday night. Scores of the match in favor of the hosts were 25-22, 25-20, 25-17.
Illinois (3-0) won the event with three victories via the sweep, while Louisville (2-1) placed second. Creighton (1-2) was third and Miami University Ohio (0-3) finished fourth.
Junior Lauren Smith was Creighton's lone representative named to the All-Tournament Team after a big weekend that saw her finish with 30 kills, 13 blocks and hit .404. Illinois' Michelle Strizak was named Tournament MVP.
"I thought offensively our team did a really good job this weekend and Lauren was a key cog," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "She tore it up, particularly vs. Louisville. She saw the court with a lot of hands in her face and she and her teammates did a lot of good things putting the ball down."
Jaali Winters led Creighton with 13 kills and 12 digs to wrap up a strong weekend to open her freshman season. In the process, she joined JoDe Cieloha (1994) as the only Bluejays in program history to open a career with three straight matches of 10 or more kills. Marysa Wilkinson also reached double-figures with 10 kills on .391 hitting.
Creighton had 43 kills, two aces, 48 digs and four blocks on .191 hitting for the evening.
"We knew we set up a grueling schedule against tough teams, but I thought we got better in each match," said Booth. "There's things in each match with missed opportunities that we have to get better on in the next week, but there's a lot of promise and we'll continue to get better in practice and games. We can still have a great season."
Strizak paced the Illini with 14 kills on .444 hitting, while Ali Stark tallied 11 kills without an error and hit .458 overall. Jordyn Poulter, the headliner on the Illini's top-ranked recruiting class, had 34 assists and 10 digs on .600 hitting. Illinois had 46 kills, one ace, 46 digs and nine blocks on .330 hitting efficiency.
Creighton returns to action next weekend with three matches in Cedar Falls, Iowa, at the UNI Tournament. The Bluejays meet No. 22 USC on Friday at 4:30 pm before Saturday matches against both Northern Iowa (12 pm) and No. 15 Kentucky (5:30 pm).
Illinois (3-0) won the event with three victories via the sweep, while Louisville (2-1) placed second. Creighton (1-2) was third and Miami University Ohio (0-3) finished fourth.
Junior Lauren Smith was Creighton's lone representative named to the All-Tournament Team after a big weekend that saw her finish with 30 kills, 13 blocks and hit .404. Illinois' Michelle Strizak was named Tournament MVP.
"I thought offensively our team did a really good job this weekend and Lauren was a key cog," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "She tore it up, particularly vs. Louisville. She saw the court with a lot of hands in her face and she and her teammates did a lot of good things putting the ball down."
Jaali Winters led Creighton with 13 kills and 12 digs to wrap up a strong weekend to open her freshman season. In the process, she joined JoDe Cieloha (1994) as the only Bluejays in program history to open a career with three straight matches of 10 or more kills. Marysa Wilkinson also reached double-figures with 10 kills on .391 hitting.
Creighton had 43 kills, two aces, 48 digs and four blocks on .191 hitting for the evening.
"We knew we set up a grueling schedule against tough teams, but I thought we got better in each match," said Booth. "There's things in each match with missed opportunities that we have to get better on in the next week, but there's a lot of promise and we'll continue to get better in practice and games. We can still have a great season."
Strizak paced the Illini with 14 kills on .444 hitting, while Ali Stark tallied 11 kills without an error and hit .458 overall. Jordyn Poulter, the headliner on the Illini's top-ranked recruiting class, had 34 assists and 10 digs on .600 hitting. Illinois had 46 kills, one ace, 46 digs and nine blocks on .330 hitting efficiency.
Creighton returns to action next weekend with three matches in Cedar Falls, Iowa, at the UNI Tournament. The Bluejays meet No. 22 USC on Friday at 4:30 pm before Saturday matches against both Northern Iowa (12 pm) and No. 15 Kentucky (5:30 pm).
Illini Classic All-Tournament Team:
Miami – Katie Tomasic
Creighton – Lauren Smith
Louisville – Katie George
Louisville – Janelle Jenkins
Illinois – Ali Stark
Illinois – Jocelynn Birks
MVP: Illinois – Michelle Strizak
Team Stats
CU
ILL
Kills
43
46
Errors
21
10
Attempts
115
109
Hitting %
.191
.330
Points
49.0
56.0
Assists
38
41
Aces
2
1
Blocks
4.0
9.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
13
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
2
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