NCAA TOURNAMENT: FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS
First Round: Dayton vs. Louisville	Friday, November 30, 2018 | 4:30 p.m. CT | Huff Hall | Champaign, Ill. Video: BTN2Go (FREE) // BTN2Go.com | Livestats
Match 32: First Round vs. Eastern Michigan	Friday, November 30, 2018 | 7 p.m. CT | Huff Hall | Champaign, Ill. Video: BTN2Go (FREE) // BTN20Go.com | Radio: WDWS 1400 | Livestats
Second Round	Saturday, December 1, 2018 | 7 p.m. CT | Huff Hall | Champaign, Ill. Video: BTN2Go (FREE) // BTN2Go.com | Radio: WDWS 1400 (if Illinois is playing) | Livestats
Related Links	NCAA Championship Central | First & Second Round Tournament Central | Interactive Bracket | Printable Bracket
Full Match Notes	Illinois | Eastern Michigan | Dayton | Louisville
Statistics	Illinois | Eastern Michigan | Dayton | Louisville
Series History	Eastern Michigan: First Meeting Dayton: Illinois leads, 6-5 Last: Illinois lost 3-0 on 8/24/2012 Streak: Lost 1 | Results Louisville: Illinois leads, 12-4 Last: Illinois won 3-0 on 9/2/2017 Streak: Won 3 | Results
Tickets	Ticket Information | Ticketing Website All-Session Reserved Seating is SOLD OUT! All-Session General Admission: BUY Single-Session General Admission: BUY
Parking & Shuttle Info	Parking Information MTD Volleyball tranSPORT Shuttle | Shuttle Information  All fans can park & ride MTD's tranSPORT service for free from the Bielfeldt Athletic Admin Building to Huff Hall. Shuttle Schedule Friday: MTD Volleyball tranSPORT service begins at 3 p.m. and ends 1 hour after the completion of the second match Saturday: Match 3 is at 7 p.m. MTD Volleyball tranSPORT service begins at 5:30 p.m. and ends 1 hour after the completion of the third match.
Social Media	@IlliniVball  | #Illini  | Facebook  | @IlliniVBall  | YouTube

ILLINI EARN NCAA TOURNAMENT BERTH

The Illinois volleyball team was selected as the No. 3 national seed in the 2018 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championships, making its 25th appearance in program history and will be hosting the First and Second Rounds of the tournament in Huff Hall on Friday and Saturday (November 30-December 1).

Louisville (21-8, 14-4 ACC) and Dayton (23-7, 12-2 A-10) will face off in the first match on Friday at 4:30 p.m. CT, followed by the Illini (28-3, 17-3 B1G) taking on Eastern Michigan (21-13, 9-7 MAC) at 7 p.m. CT. The winner of each match will advance to the second round on Saturday. Match time is TBA for Saturday.

Should the Illini advance out of the first weekend of tournament action, UI would host one of four regionals, slated for December 7-8, with matches also held at Huff Hall.

ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD

The Illinois volleyball team is familiar two two teams in this weekend's first and second rounds.

Friday's meeting will be the first between the Illini and the Eagles, while UI has faced Louisville and Dayton a combined 27 times.

The Illini lead the all-time series with the Flyers, 6-5 and are 4-0 at home, with the last meeting coming in 2012 as UD earned a 3-0 win on August, 24 in Dayton, Ohio.  

The Illini own a 12-4 record against the Cardinals and are 5-1 at home. The Illini last faced Louisville in last season's Cardinal Classic with UI sweeping the Cardinals, 3-0, on September 9, 2017. The last time the two teams met in postseason was in 2015 when the Illini took a 3-1 win in a NCAA Second Round match on December 5, 2015 on the Cardinal's home court.

LAST TIME IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

Illinois is making its 25th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament and their ninth of the last 11 seasons. The Illini own a 40-24 all-time record and 28-4 mark at home in postseason play. The No. 3 seed also marks the 17th occasion that the Illini have earned a national seed and is the highest seeding since Illinois earned the No. 3 seed in 2011. The Illini have advanced to Regionals on seven occasions since 2008, including a run to the National Championship match in 2011.

The Illini's last NCAA Tournament appearance came a season ago, when UI advanced to their 17th regional in program history. Illinois took back-to-back five-set thrillers over Hawaii and No. 8 seed and host Washington in the first & second round in Seattle, before falling to an experienced Michigan State squad, 3-1, in the NCAA Penn State Regional Semifinal.

POULTER NAMED BIG TEN CO-SETTER OF THE YEAR; ILLINI QUARTET EARN ALL-B1G HONORS

Illinois volleyball senior setter Jordyn Poulter was named the Big Ten Co-Setter of the Year, highlighting the five Illini honored when the Big Ten Conference announced its postseason awards on Wednesday (November 28).

Senior Ali Bastianelli and junior Jacqueline Quade joined Poulter as unanimous selections to the All-Big Ten First-Team, with junior Ashlyn Fleming garnering Second-Team accolades and redshirt-junior Beth Prince chosen as Illinois' Big Ten Sportsmanship Award recipient.

Poulter becomes the first-ever Illini to earn Setter of the Year accolades and is the first Illini to win a major Big Ten award since 2008 when Michelle Bartsch was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. The senior duo of Poulter and Bastianelli joins a prestigious list of Illini who have earned All-Big Ten honors three times in their careers, including four-time honoree Mary Eggers (1985-88) and three-time selections Nancy Brookhart (1987-89) and Jocelynn Birks (2013-15).

It is also the seventh time in program history that the Illini have garnered three All-Big Ten First-Team honors and the first since 2010.

POULTER: The senior setter dished out 1,318 assists on the season to rank 11th in the NCAA and third in the Big Ten with 11.66 helpers per set as Illinois ranked 10th in the nation with a .278 team hitting percentage and 13.56 assists per set. Poulter also ranks second on the team with 2.61 digs per set and 32 service aces and is third with 95 total blocks, while totaling 88 kills on a .348 attack clip. She then upped her game in league play, posting a 11.77 assists per set average, while also ranking in a tie for ninth with 21 aces.

BASTIANELLI: Bastianelli ranks 25th in the nation and third in the league with a 1.35 blocks per set average and is 17th in the NCAA and third in the Big Ten with 153 blocks on the season. Along with her defensive prowess, Bastianelli's offensive side of the game has blossomed with a 2.34 kills per set average on a .357 hitting percentage, which ranks 55th in the country and sixth in the conference.  

QUADE: A Big Ten All-Freshman Team honoree in 2015, Quade earns her first postseason conference accolade after pacing the Illini offense with a 4.19 kills per set mark on a .260 hitting percentage to sit third in the Big Ten and 32nd in the NCAA. She has totaled 530.5 points on the season to rank 20th in the country, while her 4.69 points per set sits 30th in the NCAA and is fourth in the Big Ten. Quade has also registered 217 digs, 54 blocks and 29 service aces on the season. She owns seven double-doubles on the season, as well as registered eight 20-kill matches.  

FLEMING: Fleming has made an immediate impact in her first season with the Illini, leading the team with a .420 hitting percentage to go along with 172 kills and ranking second with 111 blocks, including a team-high 19 solo stuffs, while her 1.04 blocks per set sits in a tie for 14th in the conference. She saved her best play for conference action as she led the league with a .452 hitting percentage and ranked in a tie for 12th with 0.97 blocks per set.

ILLINI CELEBRATE SENIOR NIGHT WITH 3-1 WIN OVER NO. 12 PURDUE

The Illini wrapped up the 2018 regular season and celebrated Senior Night for seniors Ali Bastianelli, Blayke Hranicka and Jordyn Poulter with its 13th-straight win as the Illini earned a 3-1 victory over No. 12 Purdue in front of a sellout crowd of 4,152 fans in Huff Hall on Saturday (November 24) night.

Junior Jacqueline Quade paced the Illini with her 11th career double-double with 22 kills on a .347 hitting percentage and 12 digs.

As a team, the Illini registered a .318 hitting percentage as Poulter passed out 52 assists to go along with seven digs, three kills and two blocks. UI was led defensively by sophomore Morgan O'Brien with 25 digs on the night.

ILLINI MOVES UP TO NO. 3 IN AVCA POLL

For the first time since the 2011 season, Illinois moved into the top-five of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA)  Coaches Top 25 poll with a No. 4 ranking in the October 29 poll and held that ranking for four weeks before moving to No. 3 on Monday.

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. 

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. 

Illinois is joined by six other Big Ten schools ranked the AVCA Poll this week and are the second-highest behind No. 2 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. 

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. 22 Washington, Colorado (RV) and Northern Iowa (RV). Also receiving votes is potential Saturday opponent Louisville.

ILLINI RANKED NO. 2 IN NCAA RPI

In the first NCAA RPI ranking of the 2018 season - released on 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 and moved up one spot on October 29 with a No. 2 ranking and stay there for three weeks until moving to No. 4 last week. The Illini then finished the regular season with a No. 2 ranking in the NCAA RPI.

There are nine Illini opponents in the top 25, including No. 4 Minnesota, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 11 Nebraska, No. 12 Penn State, No. 13 Creighton, No. 16 Northern Iowa, No. 20 Purdue, No. 21 Michigan and No. 25 Washington.

Of all of the Illini's opponents only five foes - UNCW (No. 140), Northern Colorado (No. 141), Cleveland State (No. 148), Eastern Michigan (No. 153) and Rutgers (No. 204) are out of the Top 125, with only six opponents ranking out of the top 95.