ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD
The No. 4 Illinois volleyball team next heads into the final week of the regular season, traveling to East Lansing, Michigan, for a midweek match at Michigan State on Wednesday (November 21) at 6 p.m. CT, before hosting No. 12 Purdue in the regular season finale on Saturday (November 24) at 5 p.m. CT. Saturday's match will also serve as Senior Night as the Illini will honor seniors Ali Bastianelli, Blayke Hranicka and Jordyn Poulter post-match.
The Illini own a 50-28 lead in the all-time series with the Spartans and are 22-14 in East Lansing. UI earned a 3-0 sweep of MSU earlier this season on October 20, 2018 as junior Jacqueline Quade led the Illini with a match-high 14 kills on a .355 hitting percentage, while senior Ali Bastianelli turned in 11 kills on a .438 attack clip.Â
Senior Jordyn Poulter had a balanced match with 43 assists, seven digs and a match-high four blocks, while leading the Illini to a .327 team attack percentage.
BASTIANELLIÂ NAMED B1G DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Following a week that saw the Illini extend their winning streak to 11 matches after earning back-to-back 3-0 sweeps of Northwestern and Rutgers, senior Ali Bastianelli was named the Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday (November 19).
Bastianelli earns her first weekly conference honor of the season and fifth of her career, after notching defensive player of week honors in each of her three previous seasons as well as a Big Ten Freshman of the Week accolade as a rookie. As a team, the Illini have collected nine Big Ten weekly honors in 2018.
The Marysville, Michigan native was a catalyst for the Illini defense with a team-high 11 blocks for a 1.83 stuffs per set average as UI opponents were held to a .061 team hitting percentage – including only two sets over a .100 hitting percentage. Offensively, the senior also averaged 3.00 kills per set after totaling 18 kills on a .303 attack clip in the two wins.
ILLINI SWEEP RUTGERS FOR 11TH-STRAIGHT WIN
Illinois extended its win streak to 11 matches as the Illini earned the season sweep of Rutgers in a 3-0 win on Saturday (November 17) night at College Avenue Gym.
The Illini earned their 12th road victory with junior Jacqueline Quade pacing the team with 12 kills on a .214 hitting percentage, while sophomore Megan Cooney added nine kills on a .438 attack clip.
As a team, the Illini registered a .319 hitting percentage as senior Jordyn Poulter dished out 34 assists to go along with three blocks, three digs and a pair of service aces.
Defensively, senior Ali Bastianelli turned in a match-high seven blocks and sophomore Morgan O'Brien posted a match-high 15 digs.
POULTERÂ & BASTIANELLIÂ NAMED COSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
Seniors Jordyn Poulter and Ali Bastianelli garnered Academic All-District honors for district 5, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced on November 14. Poulter now advances to the Academic All-America team ballot as a first-team selection.
It is the first time since 2014 that the Illini have garnered Academic All-District honors with former standouts Anna Dorn and Liz McMahon named to the first- and second-teams, respectively. Dorn would then go on to earn Academic All-America Second-Team accolades later that season.
Poulter owns a 3.48 GPA majoring media & cinema studies, while Bastianelli has a 3.56 GPA and is majoring in community health.Â
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 four 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. 7 Penn State, No. 8 Wisconsin, No. 12 Purdue and No. 18 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. 18 Washington, Colorado (RV) and Northern Iowa (RV).
AVCAÂ TOP 25 WINS
With the win over No. 7 Penn State on 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.
POULTERÂ NEARING 400 BLOCKS & 1000 DIGS
With 974 digs and 398 blocks in her career, senior Jordyn Poulter is just 26 digs and two stuffs away from reaching a pair of career milestones.Â
Poulter currently ranks in a tie for 14th all-time in career digs with Kathleen Bazzetta and 16th in career total blocks and would be the 13th Illini to reach the 1,000 digs mark and the 15th to reach the 400-stuff mark.Â
The Aurora, Colorado native would also be the first-ever Illinois setter to reach both the 1,000 digs and 400 blocks milestones.Â
BASTIANELLIÂ REACHES 700 CAREER BLOCKSÂ
With four blocks in a win at Northwestern last Wednesday (November 14), senior Ali Bastianelli became the first-ever Illini and only the third-ever Big Ten Conference player to register 700 or more total blocks and currently owns 709 career 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
QUADE PACING ILLINI OFFENSE
Junior Jacqueline Quade has paced the Illini offense with 441 kills on the season for a 4.20 kills per set average on a .259 hitting percentage.Â
Quade ranks second in the Big Ten and is 31st in the nation in kills per set, while her kill total sits third in the league and 41st in the NCAA.Â
The junior also ranks fourth in the conference with a 4.70 points per set mark, which also ranks 31st in the country. She has registered 493.5 total points on the season, good enough for third in the Big Ten and 44th in the nation.
POULTERÂ TOPS IN ASSISTSÂ
Senior Jordyn Poulter ranks third the Big Ten and is 11th in the NCAA with 11.64 assists per set. She owns 1,222 helpers on the season to sit second the conference and rank 21st in the country.Â
In conference action, Poulter ranks third with a 11.74 assists per set mark and has totaled 775 helpers.
With 4,857 total career assists, Poulter sits third in the NCAA active career leaders list. Â
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.
