Chambana Sun

In their final regular-season match, the Illinois Fighting Illini volleyball team was defeated by Northwestern in straight sets at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Saturday night. The loss brought Illinois to a 16-14 overall record and an 11-9 record in Big Ten play. Northwestern's victory improved their season standing to 15-15 with a 9-11 league mark.

Raina Terry led the Illini with 13 kills and added 10 digs, marking her 18th career double-double. Brooke Mosher contributed with 31 assists, while Caroline Barnes recorded a team-high of 13 digs.

The match began with Illinois trailing early, falling behind after a strong start from Northwestern. Despite efforts to close the gap, including a timeout at 15-10, Illinois couldn't overcome the deficit and lost the first set 25-15.

Northwestern maintained momentum into the second set, quickly establishing a lead that Illinois struggled to counteract. A series of attack errors further widened the gap, resulting in another set loss for Illinois at 25-15.

The third set saw similar challenges for Illinois as they fell behind early. Despite some rallies led by Jessica Nunge and others, Northwestern's consistent performance resulted in a final set score of 25-16.

Head coach Chris Tamas has historically performed well against Northwestern with a record of 9-3 but faced difficulty in this matchup. Notably, Kennedy Collins ended her career ranked eighth all-time for block assists and total blocks at Illinois.

Attendance for the match was reported at 1,992.