DR. MARY JO WYNN INVITATIONAL
Match 9: Chattanooga	Friday, September 15, 2017 | 3:30 p.m. CT | Hammons Student Center | Springfield, Mo. Radio: WDWS 1400 | Livestats
Match 10: Tennessee State	Saturday, September 16, 2017 | 9:30 a.m. CT | Hammons Student Center | Springfield, Mo. Radio: WDWS 1400 | Livestats
Match 11: Missouri State	Saturday, September 16, 2017 | 1:30 p.m. CT | Hammons Student Center | Springfield, Mo. Radio: WDWS 1400 | Livestats | Video: ESPN3 (WatchESPN app)
Full Match Notes	Illinois | Chattanooga | Missouri State
Statistics	Illinois | Chattanooga | Tennessee State | Missouri State
Series History	Chattanooga: First Meeting Tennessee State: First Meeting Missouri State: Illinois trails, 3-4-1 | Last: Illinois lost, 2-3, on 8/27/2016 | Streak Lost 1 | Results
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Social Media	@IlliniVball  | #Illini  | Facebook  | @IlliniVBall  | YouTube

DR. MARY JO WYNN INVITATIONAL

Illinois is set to travel to Springfield, Missouri, for its final nonconference tournament of the season at the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational on September 15-16 in the Hammons Student Center on the campus of Missouri State. 

The Illini will take on Chattanooga (7-4) at 3:30 p.m. CT on Friday, before facing Tennessee State (4-6) at 9:30 a.m., and the host Bears (6-3) at 1:30 p.m., on Saturday. 

ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD

The Illini have played just one of their three opponents at the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational and will have first-time meetings with Chattanooga and Tennessee State this weekend. 

The Illini trail in the series with Missouri State, 3-4-1, including a five-set setback a season ago in the finale of the Illini Classic on August 27, 2016. Prior to that meeting, the Illini had last faced MSU in 1993 when the University was still going by Southwest Missouri State.

ILLINI IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS

The Illini continued their strong blocking game in week two and rank third in the NCAA in blocks per set at a 3.44 clip as well as fourth in hitting percentage (.329), while also ranking 25th in total blocks (93) and 29th in opponent hitting percentage (.149).  

Individually, junior Ali Bastianelli paces the nation with 2.00 blocks per set, is second with a .531 hitting percentage and 12th with 54 total blocks. Additionally, Bastianelli is 54th with 4.52 points per set. 

Junior Jordyn Poulter also ranks 26th with a 11.33 assists per set average, while classmate Blayke Hranicka sits 55th with a .390 attack percentage.

PRINCE SETS NEW CAREER HIGHS IN KILLS

Redshirt-freshman Beth Prince has been coming on strong as of late, averaging 4.00 kills per set in the last four matches and setting new career highs in three of the last four contests. 

She opened with a then-career-high 12 kills on a .556 hitting percentage against Western Kentucky on September 2, before besting that mark with 13 kills on a .440 attack clip against No. 4 Stanford on Friday night.

Prince then waited little time blowing that number out of water with a career-high mark of 25 kills on a .321 hitting percentage in a five-set battle with Colorado on Saturday night.

Coming into the 2017 season, Prince's career-high was 11 kills at Iowa on October 29, 2016.

12TH ANNUAL STUFF HUFF PROMOTION A SELLOUT

In front of a soldout crowd of 4,152 raucous Illini fans, the Illinois volleyball team showed its grit despite falling to No. 4 Stanford on Stuff Huff Night at Huff Hall on Friday, September 8.

Friday night's Stuff Huff match was the ninth official sellout at Huff Hall and first since an all-time record of 4,536 fans attended the inaugural IlliNOISE Night against Wisconsin on October 6, 2014.

The 4,152 fans in attendance marked the 13th match in program history with an attendance over 4,000 and was the seventh-best attended match in program history. It was also the highest-attended Stuff Huff date in the history of the promotion.

Stuff Huff is renowned for its vast crowds, as the Illini have averaged over 2,950 fans per game, with 3,000+ crowds in 2006, 2012, 2013 and 2015 and its first 4,000+ crowd this season. 

ILLINI COMPETITIVE AT B1G/PAC-12 CHALLENGE

Despite back-to-back setbacks in the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge this past weekend, the Illini showed their fight and competitive spirit in matches against No. 4 Stanford (25-23, 25-23, 25-22) and Colorado (23-25, 26-24, 26-28, 25-12, 15-17).

The Illini were led by redshirt-sophomore Beth Prince with 38 kills for a 4.75 kills per set average and a .358 hitting percentage, while junior Ali Bastianelli turned in 29 kills (3.62 kills per set) on a .472 attack clip and a team-high 11 blocks for a 1.38 blocks per set average.

Junior Jordyn Poulter continued to lead the Illini attack with 99 assists on the weekend for a 12.38 assists per set average as the Illini registered a .344 hitting percentage as a team.

Defensively, the Illini outblocked their opponent, 21-15, and senior Brandi Donnelly posted 27 digs (3.38 digs per set), while Poulter added 25 digs (3.12 digs per set) this weekend.

COONEY ON THE BLOCK

Freshman Megan Cooney has been a strong contributor on the block in her first season as an Illini, averaging 1.45 stuffs per set the last three matches, including a season-high six blocks at Louisville and five stuffs each against No. 4 Stanford and Colorado last weekend.

The Topeka, Kansas native is average 1.16 blocks per set this season and has started the last five matches for the Illini.

POULTER POSTS DOUBLE-DOUBLES

Junior Jordyn Poulter has registered both of the Illini's double-doubles on the season, registering the first Illini double-double of the season and her 11th of her career with 48 assists and a match-high 15 digs against Montana State on August 25.

She then notched her 12th double-double of her career with a career-high-tying 60 assists and 19 digs against Colorado in the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge on September 9.

ILLINI NEARING CAREER MARKS 

In their time in the Orange and Blue, senior libero Brandi Donnelly and junior setter Jordyn Poulter have made a place for themselves in the Illini record books. Donnelly currently sits third in career digs with 1,703, just 218 off of Ashley Edinger's second place mark of 1,921. Jennifer Beltran holds the record with 2,220 digs in her four years.

Meanwhile, Poulter ranks 10th in career assists with 2,584 helpers and is just 123 assists away from equaling former teammate Alexis Viliunas for ninth place. Melissa Beitz ranks first in program history with 5,797 assists from 1996-99.

ILLINI SET HITTING PERCENTAGE RECORD AGAINST WKU

The Illini set a new single-match hitting percentage school record en route to a sweep of No. 24 Western Kentucky on Saturday as part of the Cardinal Classic. Swinging .652 as a team, the Illini led by a .917 hitting percentage from junior Ali Bastianelli.

Topping the previous school record of .635 set back on September 1, 1992 at Northwestern, the Illini were hitting on all cylinders on Saturday morning, finishing each set with an attack percentage north of .600, with a first-set mark of .708, a second-set clip of .632 and a third-set .609 percentage. The best single-match team hitting percentage during the rally-scoring era, which began in 2001, was a .483 performance against Murray State at Huff Hall on September 17, 2016.

TAMAS NAMED EIGHTH VOLLEYBALL HEAD COACH

Following the departure of former head coach Kevin Hambly to Stanford in January, Director of Athletes Josh Whitman selected Chris Tamas as the new head coach of the Fighting Illini volleyball program on February 10, 2017.  He is the eighth head coach in the history of the program.

Tamas came to Illinois following many years learning from some of the game's great coaches, including John Cook at Nebraska and former U.S. National Team coaches Hugh McCutcheon and Ron Larsen. In all, Tamas is in his ninth year of collegiate coaching including two years at Nebraska, two years at Cal Poly, two years at Minnesota and two years at UC-Riverside.

Tamas is a 2003 graduate of the University of the Pacific with a degree in sports sciences. He was a four-year starter for the Tigers and a unanimous AVCA All-American first team selection and team MVP during his 2003 senior season. In four years with the U.S. Men's National Team (1999, 2003, 2005-06), Tamas made 34 appearances, and, in 1999, helped the squad to a silver medal at the World Junior Championships in Havana. As national team captain in 2003, Tamas helped lead the United State to a bronze medal at the World University Games in Daegu, South Korea.

A training camp invitee for the U.S. squad that eventually captured the 2008 Olympic gold medal, Tamas also helped U.S. teams to silver at the 2005 World Grand Champions Cup in Japan and, as a setter, to a gold at the 2006 NORCECA Championships in Mexicali, Mexico.

As a professional, Tamas competed for six years overseas with clubs Protect Eye Orion (Netherlands), Antigos Alunos (Portugal), Real Grupo (Spain), Erdemir (Turkey), Dionysos (Cyprus) and Isku (Finland). In Finland and Cyprus, Tamas helped his clubs to national cup championships.