ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD
The No. 4 Illinois volleyball team heads back on the road this week, traveling to Evanston, Ill., for a midweek match against Northwestern on Wednesday (November 14) at 7 p.m. CT, before flying east for a Saturday (November 17) showdown with Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., at 6 p.m. CT.
The Illini own a 59-29 advantage in the all-time series with the Wildcats and are 24-13 in Evanston. UI have won eight-straight against the in-state foe, including a sweep earlier this season on October 6.Â
Junior Jacqueline Quade paced the Illini with a match-high 11 kills on a .269 hitting percentage, while senior Ali Bastianelli broke the Illinois all-time total blocks record in the win. Senior Jordyn Poulter also notched a double-double with 26 assists and 11 digs, while leading the Illini to a .372 team hitting percentage.
The Illini lead the all-time series with the Scarlet Knights, 9-1, including a 4-0 mark in New Brunswick and have won nine-straight against RU dating back to 2005. The Illini swept their earlier meeting this season with Rutgers, playing last Friday (November 11) as Quade and redshirt-junior Beth Prince led with eight kills each and Poulter turned in 34 assists and a match-high 10 digs.
B1G WEEKEND MOVES WIN STREAK TO NINE MATCHES
Illinois returned to Huff Hall last weekend and pushed its win streak to nine matches with a 3-0 sweep of Rutgers on Friday, before earning a 3-2 victory over No. 7 Penn State on Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,152 fans. It was the first win over the Nittany Lions since 2014 and the last victory against PSU in Huff Hall since 2011 as the Illini improved to 5-0 in five-set matches.
Junior Jacqueline Quade paced the team with 39 kills for a 4.88 kills per set on a .232 hitting percentage, while adding 12 digs for a 1.50 digs per set mark, two blocks, an ace and an assist. She registered a career-high 29 kills – her 10th career 20-kill outing – on a .247 attack clip and added 12 digs and two blocks against the Nittany Lions for her 10th career double-double and sixth of the season.
Senior Jordyn Poulter notched back-to-bak double-doubles as she handed out 89 assists for a 11.12 assists per set average as the Illini hit .224 under her direction, while adding 23 digs for a 2.88 digs per set mark, eight kills on a .375 hitting percentage, seven blocks and four service aces. She put together another outstanding performance against PSU after dishing out 55 assists to go along with 13 digs, seven kills with no errors on 12 swings for a .583 hitting percentage and six blocks.
ILLINOISE NIGHT A SELLOUT
The Illini hosted their annual IlliNOISE Night promotion on Saturday against No. 7 Penn State and earned their first sellout of the season with 4,152 fans in attendance.Â
The 4,152 fans in attendance marked the 14th match in program history with an attendance over 4,000 and tied for the seventh-best attended match in program history.
ILLINI HOLD STEADY AT NO. 4 IN AVCA POLL
For the first time since the 2011 season, Illinois moved into the top-five of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA)Â Coaches Top 25 poll with a No. 4 ranking in the October 29 poll and have held that ranking for the last three weeks.
The 2011 Illini concluded the season ranked at No. 2 after a runner-up finish in the NCAA Tournament. Prior to the 2018 season, the last time the Illini were ranked at No. 4 was on September 5, 2011, with the Illini reaching the No. 1 ranking on September 26, 2011 and staying atop the polls for four-straight weeks.Â
UI opened the 2018 season with a No. 12 ranking in the AVCA Preseason poll and have gradually moved up the polls. Following the opening weekend, UI moved to No. 11 for two weeks and then jumped into the top-10 for the first time since the 2015 season with a No. 8 ranking for two weeks. From there, the Illini owned the No. 7 spot in the polls for four weeks, before moving to No. 6 on October 22.Â
Illinois is joined by six other Big Ten schools ranked the AVCA Poll this week and are the second-highest behind No. 3 Minnesota, with No. 6 Nebraska, No. T-7 Penn State, No. T-7 Wisconsin, No. 12 Purdue and No. 19 Michigan also making appearances in the rankings.Â
Along with their conference foes, the Illini have faced four other opponents in the top-25 or are receiving votes, including No. 9 Creighton, No. 20 Washington, Northern Iowa (RV) and Colorado (RV).
AVCAÂ TOP 25 WINS
With the win over No. 7 Penn State on Saturday (November 10), the Illini have now registered nine wins against AVCA Top 25 teams, including a quartet of Top-10 wins with the Nittany Lions, No. 9 Nebraska on October 27, No. 8 Wisconsin on October 13 and No. 10 Creighton on September 15.Â
Other top-25 wins for the Illini include No. 25 Colorado State, No. 21 Colorado, No. 13 Washington, No. 16 Purdue and No. 13 Michigan.
The last time the Illini had nine or more AVCA Top-25 wins was during the 2013 campaign when UI won 10 matches against Top-25 opponents.
BASTIANELLIÂ NEARING 700 CAREER BLOCKSÂ
With 698 career total blocks, Bastianelli is just two stuffs away from becoming the first-ever Illini and only the third-ever player in the Big Ten Conference to register 700 career total blocks. The NCAA does not track career blocking records.Â
Penn State's Lauren Cacciamani (1996-99) and Terri Zemaitis (1994-97) rank first and second in the conference with 767 and 736 blocks, respectively.Â
POULTERÂ CHASING PROGRAM'S 13TH TRIPLE DOUBLE
Along with her 36 career double-doubles, senior Jordyn Poulter has come close to notching the program's 13th triple-double on multiple occasions, including coming within three kills of the feat this season against No. 7 Penn State on November 10 after tallying 55 assists, 13 digs, seven kills with no errors on 12 swings for a .583 hitting percentage and six blocks.Â
She was just one kill away of the mark on November 18, 2017 against then-No. 7 Minnesota as she totaled 50 assists, 17 digs and nine kills on a .750 hitting percentage.
She came within three blocks of the feat with 47 assists, 12 digs and seven blocks – all match-highs - in a win over Indiana on October 7, 2017.
She then turned in one of her best performances of the season against No. 7 Nebraska last year and was just two blocks shy with 52 assists, 14 digs and eight blocks in the match.
Poulter again flirted with history when the she registered a career-high 11 kills on a .529 hitting percentage, 52 assists, five digs and three blocks at Michigan on November 11, 2017.Â
QUADE PACING ILLINI OFFENSE
Junior Jacqueline Quade has paced the Illini offense with 420 kills on the season for a 4.24 kills per set average on a .256 hitting percentage.Â
Quade ranks second in the Big Ten and is 30th in the nation in kills per set, while her kill total sits third in the league and 36th in the NCAA.Â
The junior also ranks fourth in the conference with a 4.73 points per set mark, which also ranks 29th in the country. She has registered 468.5 total points on the season, good enough for third in the Big Ten and 36th in the nation.
POULTERÂ TOPS IN ASSISTSÂ
Senior Jordyn Poulter ranks third the Big Ten and is 10th in the NCAA with 11.67 assists per set. She owns 1,155 helpers on the season to sit second in the conference and rank 19th in the country.Â
In conference action, Poulter ranks third with a 11.80 assists per set mark and has totaled 708 helpers.
With 4,790 total career assists, Poulter sits third in the NCAA active career leaders list. Â
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 18th in the NCAA and second in the Big Ten with 1.565 aces per set and are 27th in the nation and pace the league with 163 on the season.Â
Individually, freshman Taylor Kuper paces the Illini and ranks eighth in the B1G with 31 aces on the season, while senior Jordyn Poulter lead the Illini and ranks fifth in conference action with 19.Â
For the season, the Illini have registered 11 matches with seven or more aces, including three double-digit ace outings with 12 at Purdue and 10 in wins over UC Urvine on September 8 and at Ohio State on November 2.
POULTERÂ & BASTIANELLIÂ NAMED SENIOR CLASS AWARD FINALISTS
Seniors Jordyn Poulter and Ali Bastianelli have been named two of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award, it was announced on October 25. The award highlights student-athletes who excel both on and off the court.
Illinois is the lone school with two finalists, with the Big Ten boasting four of the final 10 finalists.
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.
The finalists were chosen by a selection committee from the list of 30 candidates announced earlier in the season. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately, and fans are encouraged to vote on the Senior CLASS Award website through December 5. Fan votes will then be combined with media and Division I head coaches' votes to determine the winner.
The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in December.
