No. 22 Spartans Fall in Four Sets at Illinois

Thursday, October 15

Champaign, Ill.

7 PM ET/6 PM CT

Michigan State University

14-3,4-3Big Ten

Illinois

12-6,4-3Big Ten

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Michigan St.	22	23	25	22	1
Illinois	25	25	21	25	3

Photo by: Ynhi Le

10/15/2026 10:16:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Illinois 3, MSU 1

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - No. 22 Michigan State volleyball fell in a hard-fought four-set battle against Illinois (25-22, 25-23, 21-25, 25-22) Thursday night inside Huff Hall.

MSU drops to 14-3 (4-3 B1G) with the loss, while Illinois improves to 12-6 (4-3 B1G).

The Illini hit .261 for the match and held MSU to .215 hitting while leading in kills (57-52), digs (58-53) and total blocks (9-7). MSU held a 6-5 advantage in service aces.

Senior outside hitter Alanna Bankston led MSU with a career-high 20 kills and posted four digs and a trio of blocks. Freshman outside hitter Madi Andrews put up 15 kills, six digs and a team-best three service aces.

Senior middle blocker Zora Hardison recorded a team-high four total blocks, while senior libero Lia Schneider led MSU in digs with 17. Redshirt sophomore setter Malayah Long posted her second double-double of the season with 38 assists and 11 digs.

MSU used a 3-0 run with a Hayley Ogden kill and back-to-back Carmen Waye service aces to take a 7-6 lead in the first after the Illini opened a 6-4 lead to start. Illinois responded with a kill to tie the set back up before using a 5-1 run to take a three-point lead at 11-8. A kill and service ace from Andrews along with a pair of Illinois errors then helped MSU to its own 4-0 run to take a one-point lead at 12-11. The teams traded points back-and-forth until the media timeout where the Spartans took a 15-14 lead after an Illini attack error. Two-straight Illinois points out of the timeout gave the Illini a 16-15 lead before back-to-back Andrews kills and an Illini error helped MSU to a 3-1 run for a one-point lead at 18-17. MSU called a timeout after the Illini scored three-straight points to take a 20-18 lead. The Spartans got within a point out of the timeout with a kill from Hardison at 20-19 and again at 21-20 and 22-21 before the Illini forced another MSU timeout at 23-21. An Illini service error helped MSU get back within a point out of the timeout, but Illinois followed with back-to-back points to take the first, 25-22.

After a back-and-forth start to the second set, the Illini used a 5-1 run to take a 15-12 lead at the media timeout. An Illinois service error cut the lead to two before Illinois used an MSU service error and kill to take a 17-13. MSU responded with a 3-0 run with an Illinois service error, Vellucci service ace and Bankston kill to get within one and force an Illini timeout at 17-16. An Andrews kill and second Vellucci service ace out of the timeout extended MSU's run to 5-0 to help the Spartans to an 18-17 lead before Illinois responded with two-straight points to force an MSU timeout at 19-18. The Spartans tied the set back up at 19-19 after an Illini service error, but Illinois followed with a kill and block to take back a two-point lead at 21-19. MSU then called another timeout after a service error gave the Illini a 23-21 lead. The Spartans fought off Illinois' first set point at 24-22 after a service error, but an MSU attack error ended the set, 25-23, to give the Illini a 2-0 lead.

MSU called timeout after Illinois jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the third set. After the Illini scored back-to-back points to make it 11-7, MSU used a 4-0 run with an Andrews kill, back-to-back Andrews service aces and a block from Bankston and Hardison to tie the set at 11-11 and force an Illinois timeout. The Spartans extended their run to 7-0 out of the timeout with three-straight points from a Hardison and Long block, Illinois attack error and Bankston kill to make it 14-11. Illinois responded with back-to-back points to cut MSU's lead to one at 14-13, but an Illinois service error to follow took the teams to the media timeout with MSU leading, 15-13. The Illini used two-straight points out of the timeout to tie the set at 15-15 and took the lead at 19-18 before tying the set up again at 20-20. Hardison and Bankston put down kills to help MSU to a 22-20 lead to force an Illini timeout. MSU took a 23-21 lead after a successful challenge and got to set point at 24-21 with a Bankston kill. A kill from Waye finished off the set for the Spartans, 25-21.

The Spartans opened up a 5-0 lead in the fourth set and held a three-point lead throughout the following points until a 3-1 Illini run got Illinois within one at 11-10. MSU used a Bankston kill and Illinois error to extend its lead back to three at 13-10 before Illinois got within a point at 13-12 and again at 14-13. The Spartans followed with a kill from Ogden to take a two-point advantage at the media timeout at 15-13. MSU was forced into a timeout after Illinois used a 4-0 run out of the media timeout to take a 17-15 lead before the Spartans tied the set back up at 20-20 with back-to-back kills from Bankston and Andrews to force an Illinois timeout. Illinois used a kill out of the timeout to take a 21-20 lead before a Bankston killed tied the set again at 21-21. Illinois responded with two-straight points to take a 23-21 and force an MSU timeout and scored back-to-back points to take the set and match, 25-22.

Up next, MSU travels to Northwestern to take on the Wildcats on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 8 p.m. ET inside Welsh-Ryan Arena. The match will stream on B1G+.