UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Kaitlyn Hord and Jonni Parker combined to hit .465, but untimely mistakes proved costly for No. 13 Penn State women's volleyball in a 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-22) loss to visiting Illinois in a Big Ten match Saturday at Rec Hall.
The loss drops Penn State's record to 15-7 overall and 8-4 in the Big Ten. Illinois, which became the first unranked team since 2015 to beat the Lions at Rec Hall, improved to 16-7 overall and 8-4 in the conference. The Illini may not be unranked for long. They entered the week with the most votes of any team not in the top 25 of the AVCA Coaches Poll.
Hord was nearly unstoppable in the middle, hitting .625 with 16 kills. Parker led all players with 23 kills while hitting .383. She just missed a double-double with nine digs. Penn State hit .327 as a team, including .387 or better in each of the first three sets, but was doomed by eight Illinois aces and 12 service errors of its own. Kylie Bruder, a serving specialist for the Illini, did a lot of that damage with four aces.
Penn State hit .400 with 18 kills on its way to a 25-20 win in set one. The Lions hit .387 with 17 kills in set two and .410 with 18 kills in set three but still dropped both sets.
The second set changed the momentum of the match. Parker put Penn State up 23-21 with a kill but Illinois went on a 4-0 run to close the set and tie the match. The final two points came on an attack error by the Lions and then an ace by Diana Brown.
Penn State again led late in the set in the third, getting a chance at set point after going up 24-23. The Lions had a second chance at 25-24 following a kill by Pritchard before Illinois finished the set with a 3-0 run on a Penn State service error and two kills.
Raina Terry led Illinois with 17 kills. Megan Cooney tallied 14 kills on .343 hitting and added seven digs. Kyla Swanson led all players with seven blocks.
Gabby Blossom recorded her eighth-straight double-double for Penn State, finishing with 56 assists and 19 digs. Her 56 assists were the second most in a single match for Penn State during the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-present). She passed the previous second-place mark of 55 accomplished twice by Micha Hancock, who still owns the program record in a four-set match during that scoring era with 63 against Northwestern in 2013.
Penn State's other six assists came from libero Jenna Hampton. She was second on the team in digs with 18. Adanna Rollins finished with 10 digs and just missed a double-double with nine kills.
The Lions had five aces in the matches. Allie Holland had three of them while also totaling seven kills on .429 hitting. Quinn Menger contributed two aces.
Penn State is back at Rec Hall for two more matches next weekend. The Lions host Michigan on Friday at 7:30 p.m., and Michigan State on Saturday at 7 p.m.
