No. 8 Illinois Volleyball Set to Host 34th Annual Illini Classic

34th Annual Illini Classic Presented by Hyatt Place
Tournament Schedule	Friday, September 14 \| Huff Hall \| Champaign, Ill. (All Times CT) 10 AM \| Northern Iowa vs. Lipscomb \| Live Video \| Live Stats 5 PM \| #8 ILLINOIS vs. Northern Iowa \| BTN Plus ($) \| Live Audio \| Live Stats 7 PM \| #10 Creighton vs. Lipscomb \| Live Video \| Live Stats Saturday, September 15 \| Huff Hall \| Champaign, Ill. 10 AM \| Northern Iowa vs. #10 Creighton \| Live Video \| Live Stats 12 PM \| #8 ILLINOIS vs. Lipscomb \| BTN Plus ($) \| Live Audio \| Live Stats 7 PM \| #8 ILLINOIS vs. #10 Creighton \| BTN Plus ($) \| Live Audio \| Live Stats
Full Match Notes	Illinois \| Creighton
Statistics	Illinois \| Northern Iowa \| Lipscomb \| Creighton
Series History	Northern Iowa: Illinois leads, 2-0 \| Last Match: Illinois won, 3-1 on 12/6/1986 \| Streak: Won 2 \| Results Lipscomb: First Meeting Creighton: Illinois leads, 4-0 \| Last Match: Illinois won, 3-0 on 8/29/2015 \| Streak: Won 4 \| Results
Social Media	@IlliniVball \| #Illini \| Facebook \| @IlliniVBall \| YouTube

34TH ANNUAL ILLINI CLASSIC

The 2018 Illini Classic Presented by Hyatt Place marks the 34th year of the annual tournament.

The four-team Illini Classic began in 1984, featuring Missouri, Northern Illinois and Notre Dame. Mizzou earned the first-ever Illini Classic title, but the Illini rebounded to top New Mexico State in 1985 to win its first Classic crown. Since its inception, the Illini have won 24 of 31 outright Illini Classic titles and split a two-match series with Iowa State in 2012. The 2013 Illini Classic was the first tournament in which the participants did not all play the same amount of matches and thus no champion was crowned.

The Illini Classic has seen some top competition over the years, none bigger than the Illini's 2004 upset of No. 1 USC. The Orange and Blue rallied from down 2-1 to claim the victory in front of over 3,000 fans to end the Women of Troy's then-NCAA record 52-match winning streak.

Illinois earned their third-straight Illini Classic in 2016 - the last year UI held its annual tournament after hosting the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge a season ago - after finishing the weekend with a 2-1 record. Illinois posted wins over Arkansas (3-0) and Xavier (3-1), before falling to Missouri State in five sets. With three teams tied with a 2-1 record, the Illini earned the title on a set-win percentage tiebreaker.

ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD

The Illini own a combined 6-0 record against this weekend's Illini Classic foes Northern Iowa and Creighton, while Saturday's meeting with Lipscomb will be the first between the two schools.

The Illini hold a 2-0 record against the Panthers, having last played during the 1986 season where UI posted a 3-1 win on December 6.

Illinois owns a 4-0 mark against the Bluejays, with the last meeting resulting a 3-0 victory on August 29, 2015 in the Illini Classic.

ILLINI MOVE UP TO NO. 8 IN AVCA POLL

For the first time since the 2015 season, Illinois moved into the top-10 of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Coaches Top 25 poll with a No. 8 ranking in this week's poll.

The Illini spent the first six weeks of the 2015 campaign in the top-10 of the AVCA poll, including a No. 7 ranking on September 28 - the last time the Illini were in the top-10.

Illinois is joined by six other Big Ten schools ranked the AVCA Poll this week and are the fifth-highest behind No. 4 Nebraska, No. 5 Penn State, No. 6 Wisconsin, and No. 7 Minnesota, with No. 15 Purdue and No. 19 Michigan also making appearances in the rankings. Additionally, Michigan State is receiving votes.

Along with their conference foes, the Illini have five other opponents in the top-25 or are receiving votes, including a pair of this weekend's foes in No. 10 Creighton and Northern Iowa (RV), as well as No. 13 Washington, Colorado State (RV) and Colorado (RV).

UI opened the 2018 season with a No. 12 ranking in the AVCA Preseason poll, before sitting at No. 11 for the last two weeks.

ILLINI POST BEST START SINCE 2011 WITH CSU INVITATIONAL TITLE

Illinois swept its competition with a perfect 9-0 mark in sets on the weekend as the Illini sailed to the CSU Invitational title following wins over Bowling Green, Cleveland State and UC Irvine on September 7-8 in Cleveland.

With the victories, the Illini move to 8-0 on the season, marking the best start since the 2011 squad opened their season with a 20-0 record on the way to an NCAA Championship runner-up finish.

Sophomore Megan Cooney collected MVP honors, with classmate Morgan O'Brien and freshman Taylor Kuper joining her on the CSU Invitational All-Tournament Team. Cooney totaled 39 kills for a 4.33 kills per set average on a .493 hitting percentage, while also tallying six blocks in the three matches. O'Brien paced the Illini defense with 48 digs for a 5.33 digs per set mark, while adding 10 assists and six service aces on the weekend. Kuper led the Illini on the baseline with seven aces to go along with 18 digs.

ILLINI DUO EARN BIG TEN WEEKLY ACCOLADES

Following a dominating weekend that saw the Illini not drop a set en route to the CSU Invitational title, sophomore Megan Cooney was named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week and senior Jordyn Poulter collected her second-straight Setter of the Week accolade, the conference announced on Monday.

This marks the second and third weekly conference honors the Illini have received this season, the first career Player of the Week plaudit for the sophomore and the fifth career Setter of the Week award for the senior.

The Tournament MVP, Cooney totaled 39 kills for a 4.33 kills per set average, while only committing five errors on 69 swings for a .493 hitting percentage and added six blocks. The sophomore hit double figured in all three matches, including pacing the Illini offense against Bowling Green and UC Irvine.

Poulter registered a 11.78 assists per set average for the tournament with 106 total assists to direct the Illini to a .383 team hitting percentage – with the team hitting at least .308 in all nine sets. She added a 3.11 digs per set mark with 28 digs, to go along with six blocks, two kills and two service aces.

OPENING NIGHT SUCCESS

The Illini have had tremendous success on opening night, going 35-10 all time in the first match of the season. Illinois has lost just one season opener since 1999, starting the new millennium with a 12-match winning streak from 2000-2011, before dropping the 2012 lid-lifter at Dayton. Illinois swept UNCW in Fort Collins, Colo., to open the 2018 season on Friday morning.

Illinois is even more successful in home openers, going 37-7 all time in the first home match of the year. The Orange and Blue have won 20 their last 21 home openers, falling for the first time in 20 years last season to then-defending NCAA champion and No. 4-ranked Stanford in the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge. Since making the move to Huff Hall in 1990, Illinois is 25-2 in the first home match of the season.

The Illini's 2018 home opener is set for Friday, as they host Lipscomb at 5 p.m. CT in UI's first match of the Illini Classic.

BASTIANELLI BECOMES SECOND-EVER ILLINI WITH 600 BLOCKS

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 in last weekend's CSU Invitational.

She is just 46 blocks away from tying former player and director of operations Johannah Bangert (2007-10) for the program record of 653 total blocks.

Bastianelli also entered the top 10 for career blocks assists last season and currently sits in second place with 555, just 58 block assists from Bangert's record of 613.

POULTER NEARS 4,000 CAREER ASSISTS MILESTONE

The quarterback of the Illini offense since she arrived on campus in 2015, senior Jordyn Poulter entered the top-10 in career assists during the 2017 campaign and with 52 helpers in a win over Iowa on October 20, 2017 became just the eighth player to reach 3,000 assists in program history.

Earlier this season the senior moved into the top-five and currently ranks fourth all-time with 3,965 helpers. Poulter is just 35 assists away from becoming the fourth-ever Illini to register 4,000 assists, 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.

Schedule