University of Illinois
Penn State
Illini Set for Northeast Road Swing at Penn State, Rutgers
September 28, 2017 | Volleyball
BTN Plus matches at Penn State, Rutgers on tap this weekend
| NO. T-3 PENN STATE & RUTGERS | |
|---|---|
| Match 14: No. T-3 Penn State |
Friday, September 29, 2017 | 6:30 p.m. CT | Rec Hall | University Park, Pa. Video: BTN Plus ($) | Radio: WDWS 1400 | Livestats |
| Match 15: Rutgers |
Sunday, October 1, 2017 | 11 a.m. CT | College Avenue Gym | New Brunswick, N.J. Video: BTN Plus ($) | Radio: WDWS 1400 | Livestats |
| Full Match Notes | Illinois | Rutgers | Big Ten |
| Statistics | Illinois | Penn State | Rutgers |
| Series History | Penn State: Illinois trails, 10-43 | Last: Illinois lost, 3-1, on 11/26/2016 | Streak: Lost 2 | Results Rutgers: Illinois leads, 7-1; Last Match: Illinois won, 3-0, on 11/25/2016; Streak: Won 7 | Results |
| Tickets | Penn State |
| Social Media | @IlliniVball  | #Illini | Facebook  | @IlliniVBall  | YouTube 
|
ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD
The Illinois volleyball head to the northeast to wrap up their Big Ten Conference-opening road swing this weekend. The Illini open the weekend in University Park, Pa., to take on No. T-3 Penn State on Friday (September 29) night at 6:30 p.m. CT in Rec Hall. UI then heads to New Brunswick, N.J., for a 11 a.m. CT match against Rutgers on Sunday (Oct. 1) afternoon in College Avenue Gym.
The Illini trail in the all-time series with the Nittany Lions, 10-43, and lost a 3-1 decision against PSU in the two teams' last meeting a season ago on Nov. 26 in Happy Valley.
The Illini lead in the series with the Scarlett Knights, 7-1 and have won seven-straight in the series, including a straight-sets win on Nov. 25, 2016 in the last meeting between the two programs.
UI STARTS BIG TEN PLAY WITH 2-0 RECORD
For the third-straight season, the Illini opened conference play with back-to-back wins after posting a straight-sets victory over Northwestern in a hot and humid Beardsley Gym at Evanston Township High School on Saturday (September 23) night.
The Illini improved to 11-2 and 2-0 in the Big Ten and have now won their last eight sets dating back to a come-from-behind win over Missouri State on September 16.
Sophomore Jacqueline Quade paced the Illini with 11 kills, while junior Jordyn Poulter notched 33 assists en route to a team hitting percentage of .405, including hitting over .400 in the first and third sets.
ILLINI OPEN BIG TEN WITH STRAIGHT-SETS WIN
The Illinois volleyball team made quick work of Indiana en route to a straight-sets (25-23, 25-17, 25-15) win in its Big Ten Conference opener on September 20 at University Gym in Bloomington, Ind.
A pair of Indiana natives – sophomore Jacqueline Quade and redshirt-sophomore Beth Prince – propelled the Illini to victory, with Quade totaling a match-high 13 kills, while Prince turned in 12 kills as well as a match and career-high seven stuffs on the night. Junior Ali Bastianelli joined the duo in double figures with 10 kills on a .615 hitting percentage and five blocks.
Junior Jordyn Poulter led the Illini to a team hitting percentage of .365, including a .438 mark in the second and a .452 clip in the third, while posting 38 assists on the night.
The Illini improve to 23-13 in Big Ten openers and have now won their last five conference starters, both overall and in road matches.
ILLINI IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
The Illini continued their strong blocking game and rank third in the NCAA in blocks per set at a 3.29 clip as well as eighth in hitting percentage (.311), while also ranking 16th in total blocks (148) and 19th in opponent hitting percentage (.149).
Individually, junior Ali Bastianelli paces the nation with 1.90 blocks per set, is fourth with a .491 hitting percentage and 10th with 80 total blocks.
Junior Jordyn Poulter also ranks 26th with a 11.20 assists per set average and is 81st with 504 total helpers, while classmate Blayke Hranicka sits 43rd with a .385 attack percentage.
ILLINI NEARING CAREER MARKS
In their time in the Orange and Blue, senior Brandi Donnelly and juniors Jordyn Poulter and Ali Bastianelli have made a place for themselves in the Illini record books. Donnelly currently sits third in career digs with 1,795, just 126 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 ninth in career assists with 2,782 helpers after passing former teammate Alexis Viliunas two weeks ago and is just 24 assists away from equaling former Illini Annie Luhrsen for eighth place. Melissa Beitz ranks first in program history with 5,797 assists from 1996-99.
After entering the top 10 for career block assists earlier this season, Bastianelli passed former great Liz McMahon for ninth position with five block assists at Indiana and is just two stuffs away from tying Betsy Spicer for eighth place after another three at Northwestern on Saturday. Former player and director of operations Johannah Bangert owns the program record with 613 block assists from 2007-10.
Bastianelli is just outside the top 10 for total career blocks, sitting 12th with 448 stuffs. She needs seven more to enter in a tie for ninth with former teammate Katie Stadick and Sara Sorrell at 455. Bangert also holds the career record for total blocks at 653.
PRINCE SETS NEW CAREER HIGHS
Redshirt-sophomore Beth Prince has been coming on strong as of late, setting new career highs in both kills and blocks.
She registered 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 September 8.
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 September 9.
The Avon, Indiana native then posted a career-high with seven blocks in the Illini's conference-opening win at Indiana on September 20.
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.
