PROMOTIONS
Indiana | Saturday, October 12 | 7 PM CT
Dynamic Duo Night - Orange and Blue, Batman and Robin, Chris and Jen Tamas... Grab a friend and come in your best dynamic duo costume!
Pink Jersey Silent Auction - will be held at the Networkers Table
Giveaway - Salt and pepper shakers for the first 150 fans
Ticket Deal - Bring your football ticket stub from the Illinois Football game vs Michigan and receive one complimentary general admission tickets to this match
ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD
The No. 17 Illinois volleyball team is set to face Indiana for the second time in eight days on Saturday (October 12) for Dynamic Duo Night at Huff Hall at 7 p.m. CT.
The Illini hold a 69-17 all-time record against Indiana - including a 34-5 mark at home - and have won 15-straight dating back to the 2011 season. Illinois most recently took a 3-0 sweep of the Hoosiers on last Friday (October 4) night, needing only an hour and 20 minutes for the victory in Bloomington, Indiana.
FIRST RPI RELEASED BY NCAA
The NCAA released its first RPI of the season with the Illini ranked 22nd nationally.
ILLINI FALL IN MIDWEEK MATCH TO NO. 6 GOPHERS
Illinois had its three-match Big Ten Conference win streak snapped on Wednesday (October 9) night as No. 6 Minnesota defeated the Illini in four sets (18-25, 27-29, 25-12, 23-25) in Huff Hall.
For the second-straight match junior Megan Cooney equaled her career-high with a match-high 19 kills on the night, while senior Jacqueline Quade turned in 18 kills and classmate Ashlyn Fleming added 12 kills on a .360 hitting percentage. Redshirt-freshman Diana Brown earned her third-straight double-double after handing out 51 assists and notching 14 digs.
Defensively, junior Morgan O'Brien had a season-high and match-high 23 digs, with sophomore Taylor Kuper joining her and Brown in double digits with 13 digs. Freshman Kennedy Collins led the Illini block attack with six stuffs in the match, while Quade and sophomore Mica Allison each added three on the night.
FLEMING & BROWN COLLECT B1G WEEKLY HONORS
Senior Ashlyn Fleming was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and redshirt-freshman Diana Brown garnered Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week accolades, the conference announced on Monday (October 7).
This marks the first and second weekly conference honors the Illini have earned this season and the first-career weekly honors for the pair.
Fleming led the Illini with 11 blocks for a 1.57 stuffs per set average in the two wins as UI held its opponents to a .113 team hitting percentage, while the senior also added 20 kills on a .333 hitting percentage. The San Jose, California native started her weekend off with a match-high six blocks go to along with 11 kills on a .500 hitting percentage against the Hoosiers and then added five blocks, nine kills and an ace in the win over the Boilermakers on Sunday.
Brown turned in back-to-back double-doubles for another strong weekend for the redshirt-freshman, totaling 82 assists for a 11.71 assists per set mark and 24 digs for a 3.43 digs per set average. She also added eight blocks, three service aces and three kills on a .273 hitting percentage with no errors in the two wins.
The Columbus, Ohio local directed the Illini record their best hitting percentage of the season on the Friday against the Hoosiers, notching a .337 attack clip with marks of .462 and .324 in the second and third sets, respectively. She registered her seventh double-double of the season against IU with 31 assists and a team-high 11 digs, while adding three blocks and two aces in the win. She followed that up with her eighth double-double of the season against the ranked Boilermakers with 51 assists and 13 digs to go along with a career-high five blocks, two kills and an ace.
ILLINI IN PROGRAM RECORD BOOK
With a .400 career hitting percentage in her two seasons as an Illini, senior Ashlyn Fleming ranks second all-time in progam history, sitting behind Illinois Hall of Famer Mary Eggers with a .421 attack clip. Fleming has registered 361 kills with 81 errors on 700 swings in 50 matches played.
Joining her in the record book is classmate Jacqueline Quade, who's 4,048 attacks rank seventh all-time in program history.Quade also sits ninth in kills (1,553) and points (1,743.5).
NCAA ACTIVE CAREER LEADERS
Senior Ashlyn Fleming ranks 10th in the NCAA active careers leaders with a .363 hitting percentage with 914 kills on 232 errors and 1,877 swings, while also sitting 10th with 428 total blocks in her four-year career.
Classmate Jacqueline Quade also sits eighth in NCAA active career leaders with 1,554 kills in her four-year career.
ILLINI IN B1G RANKINGS
Several Illini are ranked in the top 15 in the Big Ten Conference statistics.
Along with Jacqueline Quade leading the league in kills per set, redshirt-freshman Diana Brown sits fourth with 10.78 assists per set after handing out 625 helpers in 58 sets.
Senior Ashlyn Fleming also ranks ninth with a .365 hitting percentage and is 14th with 1.10 blocks per set, while there are three Illini in the top 15 in service aces per set: Quade (0.36) is ninth, sophomore Taylor Kuper (0.35) tied at 10th and junior Morgan O'Brien (0.31) is tied for 14th. O'Brien also sits 15th with 3.16 digs per set.
In Big Ten play, Quade paces the league with 0.63 aces per set and is third with 4.11 kills per period, with junior Megan Cooney sitting ninth with 3.63 kills per set. Brown owns the fifth-best assists per set ratio at 11.68.
Rounding things out is Fleming, who is eighth with a .376 attack clip and freshman Kennedy Collins with a 1.05 blocks per set mark to rank in a tie for 14th.
ILLINI RANKED NO. 17 IN AVCA POLL
The Illinois volleyball team remained in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Coaches Top 25 Poll for the seventh-straight week, coming in at No. 17 in this week's rankings. The Illini opened the season with a No. 6 preseason ranking, before moving up one spot for a season-high ranking of No. 5 the following week.
Illinois is one of six Big Ten schools ranked the AVCA Poll, including No. 5 Nebraska, No. 6 Minnesota, No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 8 Penn State and No. 20 Purdue, while Michigan is also receiving votes. Along with their conference foes, the Illini have faced two other opponents in the top-25, including No. 10 Marquette and No. 11 Washington.
ILLINI CLOSING IN ON PROGRAM'S 1,000TH WIN
The Illinois volleyball program entered the 2019 season with an overall record of 989-558-7 (.639) in 45 seasons and with eight wins so far in the 2019 campaign, the Illini are just three wins from the historic 1,000th victory in program history.
HEAD COACH CHRIS TAMAS IN THIRD SEASON AT THE HELM OF ILLINI VOLLEYBALL
Chris Tamas is in his third season as head coach of the Fighting Illini volleyball program in 2019 after being named to the position in February 2017. Tamas (pronounced Thomas) is the eighth head coach in Illinois history.
In his first two seasons at the helm of the program, Tamas made an immediate impact on Illinois volleyball and currently owns an overall record of 63-21 (.750), including a 32-13 (.711) mark in the nation's toughest volleyball league, the Big Ten Conference.
Illinois experienced one of its most successful seasons ever in 2018 under Tamas, who was named American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Northeast Region Coach of the Year. The Illini made the program's fourth-ever appearance in the NCAA National Semifinals as the No. 3 overall seed in the tournament – riding a 17-match win streak into the Final Four - and ended the season ranked No. 3 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Coaches Poll. The team registered a 32-4 overall record and finished in second place in the Big Ten Conference with a 17-3 mark, with the 32 victories ranking tied for fourth-most wins in school history.
ILLINI ADVANCE TO FOURTH-EVER NCAA FINAL FOUR IN HISTORIC 2018 SEASON
The Illini are coming off an historic 2018 season that saw the Orange & Blue make the program's fourth appearance in the NCAA National Semifinals after earning the No. 3 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Illini ended the season with a 32-4 overall record – with the 32 wins ranking fourth-most in program history - and finished in second place in the Big Ten Conference with a 17-3 mark.
