Marquette, Dayton, & Illinois @ W.Kentucky | 9/13-14 | ESPN+

[ilalum92]

I like CMM as libero. She is controlling the backrow defense

[ilalum92]

ILL 20-14 off a Pholipot kill

[ilalum92]

High set to Averie for a kill

[ilalum92]

Raina touch kill ILL 22-15

[maigrey]

We might need all 10 of these match points...

[ilalum92]

Averie shank tank but Brooke says Im gonna end this

[oldmanvb]

This is more like it.

[maigrey]

Haha WKU setter does her little tip and CMM picks it up and Brooke SMAAAAASH to say "This is how you put it away as a setter!"

[ilalum92]

That match was CHAOS.

Game 1: we are down huge two different times and come back to win in extra points
Game 2: We lay an egg
Game 3: We roll
Game 4: We roll then give up a bunch of match points to finally win.

[illini88]

Worth the trip! Great win for the Illini. Bad weekend for the home team.

[exit237a]

Finally got to watch the match on replay.  Nice moment in the handshake line after the match with Raina crossing under the net to hug fellow super-senior and Mintonette club teammate, Madyson Chitty.  Cool how small a world volleyball is.

Nice W, Illini!

[tophe]

Sept 14, 2024 17:52:50 GMT -5 illini88 said:

Worth the trip! Great win for the Illini. Bad weekend for the home team.

Agreed! I rarely get to see the Illini in person. It was a fun weekend, but I feel for WKU. They're my second favorite team since my kid is a student there.

[tophe]

Sept 14, 2024 16:22:29 GMT -5 oldmanvb said:

Yesterday and today we seem to dig ourselves into a deep hole and then try to work out way out of it.

I guess the positive take is that we don't give up, right?

[Chewblocka]

Sept 15, 2024 10:46:52 GMT -5 tophe said:

Sept 14, 2024 16:22:29 GMT -5 oldmanvb said:

Yesterday and today we seem to dig ourselves into a deep hole and then try to work out way out of it.

I guess the positive take is that we don't give up, right?

So true but will we be able to dig out with Biggie teams? I have high hopes, but when you look at our comebacks and errors from our opponents is it as exciting with the level of teams we are playing? Don’t get me wrong I will take a W all day and I know we can force errors to some degree, but we struggled with tougher teams this weekend and I wonder is this cause for concern or do we celebrate the “cupcakes” and hope for the best? Big question is are we prepared for road ahead? Sometimes I fear that if we don’t blow confetti on VT one gets their knickers in a knot. But there it is, looking forward to the weekend ahead. 

[Pasquale]

Here are a couple of recaps from the tournament.

dailyillini.com/uncategorized/2024/09/15/illinois-bounces-back-with-4-set-victory-over-western-kentucky/

fightingillini.com/news/2024/9/14/volleyball-fighting-illini-triumph-over-wku.aspx

Twenty-four hours later, still nothing in the News-Gazette (though you'll find 8 articles about the football team's victory). Congratulations to the football team, by the way, for cracking the Top 25.