Chambana Sun

The University of Illinois Fighting Illini women's volleyball team secured a four-set victory against Ohio State in Columbus on Friday night, marking their fourth consecutive win and improving their Big Ten conference record to 6-1. This represents the team's strongest start in conference play since 2011.

Taylor de Boer led the Illini with 17 kills, reaching double-digit kills for the seventh consecutive match. She also contributed three digs and two blocks. Freshman Alyssa Aguayo added 13 kills and matched her career-high with four blocks, while also recording eight digs and two assists.

Kayla Burbage finished with nine kills, five blocks, and an ace. Ashlyn Philpot tied her season-high with seven blocks and contributed six kills. Setter Kenna Phelan posted her fifth double-double of the season with 43 assists and a career-high 21 digs, along with three kills and three blocks. "Phelan became the first Illini to post a 40-assist, 20-dig double-double since Jordyn Poulter did so on Sept. 16, 2017, at Missouri State (47 assists, 23 digs)," according to the team.

Defensively, Taryn Kirsch had 13 digs and two assists, reaching double-digit digs for the eighth time this season. Averie Hernandez also tallied 10 digs. The Illini finished the match with a season-high 73 digs as a team, their highest total since October 2022.

The match saw the Illini recover from deficits in multiple sets. In the first set, they overcame a five-point gap to win 25-22. After dropping the second set 25-20, Illinois closed the third set on a 6-0 run to win 25-21. In the final set, the Illini secured the win by scoring the last two points after Ohio State had fought off two match points.

With this win, head coach Chris Tamas improved his overall record at Illinois to 160-99. The Illini now have an all-time record of 48-46 against Ohio State and recorded their first road win over the Buckeyes since November 2019.

Illinois is now 11-5 overall this season and will conclude their four-match road trip on Sunday at Northwestern.