Volleyball falls to Illinois and Northwestern over the weekend

In the last road trip of the season, the IU volleyball team lost to No. 25 Illinois and Northwestern.

On Friday, the Hoosiers (9-18, 1-15) fell in three sets to the Fighting Illini (28-26, 25-18, 25-22) and on Sunday fell to the Wildcats in five sets (25-16, 25-27, 25-23, 17-25, 15-10).

Despite the losses this weekend, IU senior outside hitter Jordan Haverly became the first player in IU history to hit 1,500 kills and have 1,000 digs. She set the mark during the match against Northwestern.

“It’s really cool for me,” Haverly said. “It’s a perfect way to end our last away game as seniors and reach that milestone. Just to know that I’ve been able to do that much for the program is really inspiring.”

In what IU Coach Sherry Dunbar called a much better weekend, the Hoosiers were able to keep each match close and had that energy that Dunbar was looking for after it wasn’t there last week.

“It was a totally different weekend,” Dunbar said. “We fought hard the entire weekend against two really good opponents. Northwestern beat Purdue handily the night before, and Illinois is a really hot team right now. But I think our youth kind of showed in that fifth set. We didn’t play like we did in the third and fourth set, which was a little disappointing.”

Illinois (14-12, 10-6) was able to close out each set against the Hoosiers despite the fight the Hoosiers showed. They were led by juniors Morgan Criswell and Liz McMahon, who each had 13 kills. Sophomore Alexis Viliunas led the Illini with 14 digs and led them in assists with 33.

“Illinois played really well for their home crowd and were really consistent,” Haverly said. “Their outsides hit really well against us.”

IU was led by sophomore middle blocker Awele Nwaeze, who had 11 kills. Senior captain and libero Caitlin Hansen led the team in digs with 21, and sophomore setter Katie Gallagher, who was back in action for the first time suffering a concussion in practice a few weeks ago, led the Hoosier in assists with 16.

On Sunday, Northwestern (16-12, 8-8) was able to hold on in five sets, just as they did the first time they played the Hoosiers. They were led by junior Monica McGreal, who had 21 kills, and senior All-American Stephanie Holthus added 15 kills and 15 digs.

The Wildcats were led in digs by sophomore Caroline Niedospial, who had 20, and were led in assists by freshman setter Caleigh Ryan with 59.

IU was led by sophomore outside hitter Amelia Anderson, who had 20 kills, while junior middle blocker Morgan Leach added 16. Hansen led the team in digs with 20, and freshman setter Megan Tallman led IU in assists with 36. Haverly, in route to her record setting performance, had 11 kills and 19 digs.

“Jordan has been a really good role model to me,” Anderson said.

Coach Dunbar echoed Anderson’s feelings on Haverly’s importance to the program.

“Well, she’s old,” Dunbar said. “We always kid her about that. She’s 24 years old. She has a lot of experience under her belt, and she uses that experience. She is not the same athlete she was with all the injuries, but she is a probably a smarter player than she was.”

Follow volleyball reporter Andrew Vailliencourt on Twitter @AndrewVcourt.