Northwestern
Match 28: Northwestern (13-17, 4-14 B1G)	Wednesday, November 27, 2019 | 7:30 p.m. CT | Huff Hall | Champaign, Ill. TV: BTN | Radio: WDWS 1400 | Livestats
Match 29: Northwestern	Saturday, November 30, 2019 | 7 p.m. CT | Welsh-Ryan Arena | Evanston, Ill. Video: BTN Plus | Radio: WDWS 1400 | Livestats
Full Match Notes	Illinois | Northwestern
2019 Statistics	Illinois | Northwestern
Series History	Northwestern: Illinois leads, 60-29 | Last: Illinois won, 3-0, on 11/14/2018 | Streak: Won 9 | Results
Tickets	Wednesday | Saturday
Social Media	@IlliniVball  | #Illini  | Facebook  | @IlliniVBall  | YouTube

PROMOTIONS       

Senior Night & Camper Reunion/ Youth Night - We will honor our seniors throughout the match and recognize our returning summer campers!

Giveaway - Trading cards for the first 300 fans. 

Ticket Deals - Illinois Volleyball Summer Campers receive one complimentary general admission ticket. Campers will receive more information closer to the match.

2019 volleyball summer campers RSVP for complimentary ticket here.

Post-match - Autographs & Senior Recognition honoring seniors Ashlyn Fleming, Caroline Welsh, Jacqueline Quade and Beth Prince. 

ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD 

The No. 24 Illinois volleyball team Illini team is set to wrap up the 2019 regular season with back-to-back meetings with Northwestern this week. The Illini will first host the Wildcats on Wednesday (November 27) on Senior Night in a BTN televised match at 7:30 p.m. CT, before heading to Evanston, Ill., for a Saturday (November 30) match-up at 7 p.m. CT in Welsh-Ryan Arena.

The Illini lead the all-time series with the Wildcats, 60-19, and are 32-9 in Huff Hall and 25-13 on the road. UI have won nine-straight against its in-state rival, including sweeping both matches a season ago.

BROWN TABBED FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK

After a weekend road sweep of Maryland and Ohio State, redshirt-freshman Diana Brown was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week, the conference announced on Monday (November 25).

This marks the second-career weekly honor Brown has collected after collecting the honor earlier this season on October 7. It is the fourth weekly conference honor the Illini have received this season with junior Morgan O'Brien and senior Ashlyn Fleming each also earning Defensive Player of the Week honors on November 18 and October 7, respectively.

Brown totaled 85 assists and 19 digs in the two road victories to average 12.14 helpers and 2.71 digs per set, while directing the Illini to a .227 team hitting percentage. She also added three kills on a .500 hitting percentage and two blocks.

ILLINI EARN WEEKEND SWEEP ON THE ROAD AT MARYLAND & OHIO STATE

The No. 25 Illinois volleyball team had a successful business trip over the weekend, earning a weekend sweep with wins over Maryland and Ohio State. 

The Illini opened the weekend with a 3-0 sweep of the Terrapins on Friday as senior Jacqueline Quade led all players with 15 kills and added 10 digs on the night en route to registering her eighth double-double of the season, while classmate Ashlyn Fleming totaled eight kills on a .571 hitting percentage to go along with a team-high four blocks and three service aces. Redshirt-freshman Diana Brown also posted a double-double – her team-leading 13th of the season – with 37 assists and a match-high 11 digs.

The Illini then capped the weekend with a 3-1 win over the Buckeyes on Sunday with Quade again posting a match-high 16 kills, while Fleming turned in 12 kills on a .360 hitting percentage to go along with a match-high seven blocks. Columbus native Brown registered 48 assists and eight digs, while guiding the Illini to a .250 team attack percentage and junior Morgan O'Brien led all players and came within one dig of a season-high with 24 digs.

LAST WEEK STANDOUTS

Senior Ashlyn Fleming totaled 20 kills with only three errors on 39 swings for a .436 hitting percentage and was strong defensively with 11 total blocks for a 1.57 blocks per set average in her middle blocker position. She added four service aces and four digs in the two wins over Maryland and Ohio State. 

Classmate Jacqueline Quade registered a team-leading 31 kills for a 4.43 kills per set mark, while also posting 18 digs for a 2.57 digs per set average. 

Redshirt-freshman Diana Brown totaled 85 assists in the two matches for a 12.14 assists per set, while also posting 19 digs for a 2.71 digs per set mark. She added three kills on a .500 hitting percentage and two blocks, while directing the Illini to a .227 team hitting percentage.

Junior Morgan O'Brien led the Illini with 32 digs for a 4.57 digs per set. 

As a team, the Illini recorded 17 service aces, with sophomore Taylor Kuper totaling a team-high five aces and Fleming  adding four aces. 

NCAA RPI RANKING

Illinois comes in at No. 43 in the latest NCAA RPI ranking after debuting in the first RPI of the season on October 14 ranked 22nd nationally. 

DOUBLE-DOUBLES

Senior Jacqueline Quade leads with 21 career double-doubles, including seven during the 2019 season. 

Redshirt-freshman Diana Brown paces the team with 13 double-doubles on the season, while junior Morgan O'Brien has one double-double on the season - the first of her career with 14 digs and 10 assists at Penn State on October 23. 

ILLINI IN PROGRAM RECORD BOOK

Senior Jacqueline Quade is quickly moving up the Illinois volleyball record books, ranking fourth all-time in program history with 1,730 kills and is 44 kills from moving into a tie for third place with Illinois Athletics Hall of the Famer Mary Eggers Tendler with 1,774 kills. Quade also ranks fourth with 4,576 attacks and is seventh with 1,949.0 points in her four-year career. 

With a .382 career hitting percentage in her two seasons as an Illini, senior Ashlyn Fleming ranks third all-time in progam history, sitting behind Illinois Hall of Famer Mary Eggers (1985-88) with a .421 attack clip and Kristen Gleis (1992) with a .386 attack clip. Fleming has registered 466 kills with 115 errors on 920 swings in 63 matches played. 

Junior Morgan O'Brien recently moved into the top-10 in digs and is eighth with 1,161 digs in her three seasons. She also ranks fifth in program histroy with a 3.42 digs per set mark. 

Redshirt-freshman Diana Brown sits seventh with a 10.91 assists per set average in her first season on the court. 

ILLINI RANKED NO. 24 IN AVCA POLL

The Illinois volleyball team remained in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Coaches Top 25 Poll for the 14th-straight week, moving up one spot from the last two weeks to No. 24 in the most recent 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 seven Big Ten schools ranked the AVCA Poll, including No. 5 Wisconsin, No. 6 Nebraska, No. 7 Penn State, No. 8 Minnesota, No. 16 Purdue and No. 22 Michigan. Along with their conference foes, the Illini have faced two other opponents in the top-25, including No. 9 Washington and No. 12 Marquette.

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 70-27 (.722), including a 39-19 (.672) 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.