ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD
The No. 7 Illinois volleyball team continues its four-match homestand this weekend with a midweek match-up against No. 6 Wisconsin on Wednesday (October 3) at 8 p.m. CT in Huff Hall, before welcoming in Northwestern on Saturday (October 6) at 7 p.m.
The Illini lead the all-time series with Wisconsin, 47-38-1 and are 22-16 at home. The Badgers took the lone meeting a season ago, 3-1, on November 17, with the last Illini win coming during the 2013 campaign with a 3-1 win in Madison.
Illinois also holds a 58-29 advantage in the all-time series with Northwestern and own a 31-9 record in Champaign. The Illini sweep both meetings with the Wildcasts in 2017.
ILLINI SPLIT B1G HOME OPENING WEEKEND
After opening the Big Ten Conference slate with a pair of sweeps at then-No. 16 Purdue and Indiana, the Illini returned to open its home league schedule last weekend. UI started off the weekend by making quick work of Iowa with a 3-0 sweep in under an hour and a half, before taking its first setback of the season in a 3-1 decision against No. 3 Nebraska.
Junior Jacqueline Quade totaled 34 kills for a 4.86 kills per set average on a .312 hitting percentage, while adding 20 digs for a 2.86 digs per set mark.
Quade opened her weekend with her seventh-career double-double and third of the season in a win over Iowa as she posted 12 kills on a .400 hitting percentage and 12 digs. She then equaled a season-high with 22 kills on a .269 hitting percentage and eight digs in the Illini's first setback of the season against No. 3 Nebraska.
Senior Jordyn Poulter continued her strong play with back-to-back double-doubles, registering 88 assists for a 12.57 assists per set average as the Illini hit at a .230 clip as a team. Poulter also paced the team with 28 digs for a 4.00 digs per set average and nine blocks, while adding five kills on a .556 hitting percentage.
Poulter started off the weekend with 46 assists and team-highs of 15 digs and five blocks in a win over Iowa, with the team hitting at a .321 attack clip on the night. She then notched her 30th career double-double and seventh of the season against No. 3 Nebraska with 42 assists and team-highs of 13 digs and four blocks.
ILLINI DEBUT AT NO. 3 IN NCAA RPI
In the first NCAA RPI ranking of the 2018 season - released on Monday (October 1), the Illini led the Big Ten with a debut ranking of No. 3, sitting just behind No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 BYU.
There are nine Illini opponents in the top 25, including No. 7 Washington, No. 8 Nebraska, No. 9 Wisconsin, No. 11 Michigan, No. 12 Purdue, No. 15 Minnesota, No. UNI, No. 21 Creighton and No. 22 Penn State.
Of all of the Illini's opponents only two foes - Lipscomb (No. 124) and Rutgers (No. 178) are out of the Top 120, with only six opponents ranking out of the top 70.
BASTIANELLI FOUR BLOCKS AWAY FROM PROGRAM RECORD
Senior Ali Bastianelli has established herself as one of the all-time blocking greats and has etched her name in the Illini record books, becoming just the second player in program history to reach 600 career total blocks after crossing that threshold with 15 stuffs at the CSU Invitational on September 7-8.
She is just four blocks away from tying former player and director of operations Johannah Bangert (2007-10) for the program record of 653 total blocks.
Bastianelli also sits in second place for career blocks assists with 595, just 18 block assists from Bangert's record of 613.
POULTER & BASTIANELLI NAMED SENIOR CLASS AWARD CANDIDATES
Illinois volleyball seniors Jordyn Poulter and Ali Bastianelli have been named candidates for the Senior CLASS Award, it was announced on Monday (October 1). The Illini duo are two of 30 candidates up for the award, which honors student-athletes who excel both on and off the field.
Illinois is one of just two schools with two candidates along with Creighton, while the Big Ten boasts five total honorees.
Candidates must have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
POULTER REACHES 4,000 CAREER ASSISTS MILESTONE
The quarterback of the Illini offense since she arrived on campus in 2015, senior Jordyn Poulter entered the top-five in career assists earlier this season and with 39 helpers in a win over Northern Iowa on September 14 became just the fourth-ever Illini to reach 4,000 career assists in program history.
The senior currently ranks fourth all-time with 4,274 helpers, with Barb Winsett (1987-90) sitting in third place with 4,457 career helpers. Melissa Beitz (1996-99) ranks first in program history with 5,797 assists from 1996-99.
POULTER TOPS IN ASSISTS
Senior Jordyn Poulter leads the Illini and ranks seventh in the NCAA with 11.62 assists per set. She owns 639 helpers on the season to pace the conference and sit 37th in the country.
In conference action, Poulter ranks second with a 12.00 assists per set mark and leads the Big Ten with 192 assists handed out in four matches.
ILLINI SERVING UP THE ACES
The Illini set a new season-high with 12 service aces against No. 16 Purdue on September 21 as senior Ali Bastianelli turned in a career-high and tied the team's season-high with five aces, while junior Jacqueline Quade equaled her career-high with four aces as well.
As a team, the Illini rank 12th in the NCAA and third in the Big Ten with 1.76 aces per set and are 37th in the nation with 97 on the season.
Individually, freshman Taylor Kuper paces the Illini with 22 aces on the season, while ranking seventh in the conference with 0.40 aces per set.
For the season, the Illini have registered six matches with seven or more aces, including two double-digit ace outings with 12 at Purdue and 10 in a win over UC Urvine on September 8.
