Complete Match Notes

Illini earn school's first No. 1 ranking

For the first time in school history, Illinois volleyball is ranked number one in the AVCA Coaches poll. The Illini, one of just three undefeated teams left in the nation, moved up two spots following weekend victories at No. 9 Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Illinois, who is off to its second best start to a season in school history, received 55 of a possible 60 first-place votes with Pacific-12 teams occupying spots 2-6 and three other Big Ten teams among the top 10. UCLA, Washington, California and USC are in spots 2-5 with each receiving at least one first-place vote. The rest of the top 10 includes Stanford, Nebraska, Texas, Penn State and Minnesota.

A total of seven Big Ten teams remain in the top 25, including Purdue, who at No. 12, is the other unbeaten team left in the rankings. The Fighting Illini and Boilermakers square off on Saturday night at Huff Hall in Champaign. The Illini have their conference home opener on Friday night vs. Indiana (8-6). Michigan checks in at No. 17 in this week's rankings while Ohio State is at No. 24. Non-conference opponent Tennessee is No. 23 while Dayton and Louisville are among those receiving votes.

Prior to this week, the Illini's top ranking came in the 1988 preseason poll where they started the year at No. 2. Illinois is among the top three for three straight weeks, marking the first time in school history that Illinois has spent multiple weeks in the top three in a season in school history.

Fellow unbeaten comes to Huff Hall

There remains just three unbeaten teams in the country and two that are in the top 25 square off Saturday night in Champaign as No. 12 Purdue comes to town. (The other unbeaten is Northern Arizona). Purdue played its first ranked opponent on Sept. 24 and posted an impressive 26-24, 26-24, 25-15 victory over #18 Michigan in West Lafayette.
• Purdue and Illinois both competed at the Austin, Texas, Regional a year ago with the #16 seed Boilers defeating top-seed Florida in straight sets to advance to the Regional Final. The Illini, the No. 8 seed, lost a tight battle with host and No. 9 Texas in five sets. The Longhorns advnaced to the Final Four with a four-set win over Purdue.
• Purdue (.287) and Illinois (.280) rank 2-3 in the conference in hitting percentage. The Boilers' Tiffany Fisher tops the league individually at .419 while Illinois' Erin Johnson is third at .408.
• Illinois leads the all-time series with the Boilermakers, 41-33. The teams split matches in 2010, each winning on its home floor. The Purdue win in the final game of the regular season broke a six-match winning streak for the Illini in the series.
• Fans can use the ticket stub from Satuday's football game to gain free admission to the volleyball match Saturday night.

Student U makes season debut Friday

A total of three Illinois home matches will be aired on BTN.com this season as part of the Student U initiative starting with Friday's match against Indiana. Mario Gonzalez and Heather Pink will be on the call of the Illini and Hoosiers.
• Both matches this weekend will be aired live on WDWS (AM-1400) with Dave Loane and Mike Trame on the call.
• Live video streaming will be available for Saturday's match with Purdue on fightingillini.com.

Big Ten honors Bartsch, Johnson

Michelle Bartsch was named the Big Ten co-Player of the Week following her performances over the weekend. This is the second such honor this season for the senior from Maryville, Ill. Bartsch had a pair of double-doubles with 23 kills and 10 digs in a five-set victory at No. 9 Minnesota and 10 kills and 10 digs in a three-set triumph at Wisconsin. She ranks sixth in the Big Ten in kills at 4.06 per set and 10th in the league in digs at 3.41 per set. Bartsch shares the honor with Gina Mancuso of Nebraska.

Junior middle blocker Erin Johnson was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. Johnson hit .435 with 11 kills and a career-high 10 blocks in the win over Minnesota and earns the honor for the first time in her career. Johnson ranks third in the conference in hitting percentage at .408, which is on pace to rank among the best in school history for a single season.

Indiana Series Notes

• Illinois leads the all-time series with Indiana 54-16. The Illini saw a six-match winning streak vs. the Hoosiers come to a halt with a 3-1 Indiana victory last season.
• Indiana was one of six Big Ten teams in the Sweet 16 last year. The Hoosiers defeated Miami (Fla.) and Tennessee before falling to USC in the Regional Semifinal.

Best starts in school history

Illinois is 11-0 on the season, their second-best start in school history behind only the 30-0 beginning to the 1985 season. A look at the best undefeated beginnings: 1985 -- 30-0
2011 -- 13-0
1995 -- 9-0
1986 -- 8-0
1997 -- 8-0

Ranked foes all over the schedule

Illinois is 2-0 against ranked opponents so far this year. With seven Big Ten teams ranked in the top 25, the Illini are in the middle of a 10-week conference schedule in which the Illini will play at least one team currently ranked for nine straight weeks.

Winning five-set matches

Illinois has had four five-set victories this season. In the first two matches, the Illini won after dropping the first two sets, defeating Dayton to win the State Farm Illini Classic and bettering Tulsa to take the Middle Tennessee Invitational. A week later, the Illini out-lasted Louisville, another team receiving votes in the poll, in five sets. Illinois began Big Ten play with a five-set victory over Minnesota.
• Last year Illinois played nine matches that went the distance, posting a 5-4 mark in those matches, winning five straight at one point.

Illini in the NCAA Rankings

• Illinois ranks ninth in hitting percentage (.280), 20th in kills per set (14.18) and 24th in assists per set (13.14).
• Annie Luhrsen is 12th in assists per set (11.63).
• Erin Johnson is 17th in hitting percentage (.408).

Bartsch posts 20-20 performances

Michelle Bartsch had a pair of 20-20 performances at the State Farm Illini Classic with 21 kills and 23 digs vs. Tennessee and 24 kills and 20 digs vs. No. 21 Dayton. Prior to that there were only two 20-20 matches by an Illini in past nine years, both coming in 2008 (Laura DeBruler and Kylie McCulley).
• Bartsch is just the sixth Illini with multiple 20-20 matches, joining Erin Borske (four times), Mary Coleman (six), Petra Laverman (four), Tracey Marshall (six) and Kelly Scherr (two). Two others did so back-to-back nights (Laverman and Coleman). Bartsch earns Big Ten Player of the Week, State Farm Illini Classic MVP Michelle Bartsch was named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Sept. 5 after earning MVP honors at the State Farm Illini Classic.

Bartsch became just the third Illinois player with a 20-20 performance since 2002 and the first in three seasons when she tallied 21 kills and 23 digs in a four-set victory over Tennessee on Friday night. It didn't take her long to repeat the feat, with 24 kills and 20 digs the following night in a thrilling five-set comeback win over Dayton to help Illinois to its sixth straight State Farm Illini Classic title. Bartsch nearly made it three straight 20-20s with 19 kills and 16 digs in a four-set victory over Houston Saturday morning, despite being subbed for several rotations in the third set.

Illini win State Farm Illini Classic

• Illinois won its 21st State Farm Illini Classic in the 28-year history of the event. The Illini now have a 61-7 all-time record in the history of the tournament.
• For the third time in the last eight years, the championship match against a ranked opponent went five sets and for the third time Illinois claimed the victory. Spotting 21st-ranked Dayton (4-2) a two-set advantage, the Illini stormed back for an 18-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-23, 15-12 victory in a match that didn't end until nearly 11 pm.
• Erin Johnson and Colleen Ward joined Bartsch on the all-tournament team. Johnson hit .324 with 32 kills and 11 blocks for the tournament. Ward hit .241 with 49 kills, 42 digs and six blocks.

Bartsch, Ward named to All-Tournament Team at BYU Invite

Michelle Bartsch was named the MVP of the BYU/Nike Invitational. Bartsch and Ward each had 40 kills in three victories Bartsch had nine of her 13 blocks in the victory over St. Mary's and had 34 digs for the tournament. Ward added 32 digs in the 10 sets.

Bartsch moving up career charts

Michelle Bartsch has moved into eighth on Illinois' all-time kills list with 1294, passing Betsy Spicer.

Illinois career kills list 1. 1,833 Laura DeBruler 2007-10
2. 1,761 Mary Eggers 1985-88
3. 1,707 Mary Coleman 1995-98
4. 1,678 Rachel VanMeter 2002-05
5. 1,669 Nancy Brookhart 1986-89
6. 1,657 Tracey Marshall 1996-99
7. 1,484 Bridget Boyle 1986-89
8. 1,294 Michelle Bartsch 2008-11
9. 1,245 Betsy Spicer 1997-00
10. 1,228 Shadia Haddad 1998-01

Middle blockers hitting well

Illinois middle blockers Anna Dorn and Erin Johnson are hitting for a high percentage through the first five weeks of the season. Johnson is hitting .408 with 132 kills. Dorn is hitting .403 with 65 kills. The Illinois season record for attack percentage belongs to Mary Eggers, who hit .455 in 1986. Eggers holds second and third also with .436 in 1987 and .433 in 1988.
• Johnson ranks third in the Big Ten and 15th nationally in hitting percentage. At 2.63 attacks per set, Dorn does not have enough attacks to qualify nationally (3.33) on in the Big Ten (3.0). If she did, she'd rank fourth in the Big Ten and rank 18th in the nation.

Illinois creating quite a home court advantage

• The Illini had its first sellout since 1992 when 4,141 saw Illinois top Penn State in five sets on Sept. 24, 2010. The Illini also drew 3,127 for the Northwestern match on Oct. 2, also a five-set victory. That marked the first time since 1993 the Illini have drawn more than 3,000 for match twice in the same season.
• Illinois is 5-0 at home in 2011 and 46-5 in front of the home crowd the past four years Two of the losses have come to No. 1 Penn State.
• Not including 2011, in the years the Illini have qualified for the NCAA Tournament, they have a 244-46 home record (.841).

Illinois returns two All-Americans

Illinois brings back a pair of All-Americans from the 2010 season in seniors Michelle Bartsch and Colleen Ward. The duo also earned Preseason All-Big Ten accolades.

Bartsch, who earns the honor for the third straight season, was a third team All-America choice in 2010 as well as earning first team All-Midwest Region and All-Big Ten accolades. She was MVP of the Time Warner Cable Invitational following Illinois' victory over then No. 3 Texas. Bartsch ranked seventh in kills per set (3.56) and ninth in points per set (4.11) in the Big Ten and recorded seven straight double digit kills matches to end the season.

Ward was a second team All-America selection in 2010 as well as collecting first team All-Big Ten and All-Midwest honors. She set Illinois' single-match ace record with nine aces vs. BYU and was named to three all-tournament teams. In the Big Ten, she ranked third in kills (3.99 per set) and points (4.50 per set) and tallied six matches with at least 20 kills, including 27 in the NCAA second round (4th most by an Illinois player in an NCAA match).

Illinois picked second in the Big Ten

Illinois, who has placed second in the Big Ten each of the past two seasons, is picked to finish in that spot again by the conference coaches. The Illini are tied for second with Nebraska in the coaches' preseason poll which ranks the top six teams in the league. Penn State is the favorite with Purdue, Minnesota and Michigan St. rounding out the top six in that order.

Illini boast nation's third ranked recruiting class

Illinois' 2011 four-person class is ranked No. 3 nationally by prepvolleyball.com, coming on the heels of the fifth-rated class in 2010. The members of the Class of 2007, who just completed their Illinois careers, were the sixth-best in the nation.

Illinois is ranked behind only Texas and four-time defending national champion Penn State. The Illini went 1-1 against both teams a year ago. Rounding out the top 10 are Washington, UCLA, California, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Pepperdine and USC. The Big Ten has six total teams in the top 30 - Illinois (3), Wisconsin (7), Nebraska (13), Purdue (14), Ohio State (24) and Minnesota (30).

Team loaded with Top 60 talent

The Illini have 11 players on the roster who were top 60 products in their respective classes. Liz McMahon, the No 3 player inteh class is the highest ranked recruit in school history. McMahon (No. 3 in the class), Jocelynn Birks (26), Morganne Criswell (33) and Ali Stark (53) joins middle blocker Anna Dorn (6), outside hitter Colleen Ward (7), outside hitter Michelle Bartsch (16), outside hitter Jazmine Orozco (33), outside hitter Jessica Jendryk (45), middle blocker Erin Johnson (57) and libero Jennifer Bonilla (60) as top 60 players.