FIRST SERVE | WEEK NINE
The Illinois volleyball team will stay on the road for a midweek matchup against Northwestern on Wednesday (October 20) at 7 p.m. CT, before returning to Huff Hall for its Pink Match against Michigan on Saturday (October 23) at 3 p.m. CT.
Both matches will be streamed on B1G+ ($) as well as broadcasted on the radio on WDWS 1400 in Champaign and streamed on FightingIllini.com.
The 2021 season marks the 48th season of Illinois volleyball, with the Illini holding an overall record of 1,024-590-7 (.634) and a mark of 460-293 (.611) in the Big Ten.
ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD
Illinois holds a 62-30 advantage against Northwestern, including a 25-14 mark in Evanston, but dropped the last match held in Welsh-Ryan arena, a 3-1 decision on Nov. 30, 2019.
The Illini and Wildcats have already met once earlier this season, with Illinois taking a 3-2 victory in the league home opener on September 25.
Sophomore Raina Terry turned in a season-high 19 kills on a .227 hitting percentage to lead the Illini, while also adding five blocks and five service aces. For the second-straight match, graduate student Megan Cooney registered a double-double – the ninth of her career – with 16 kills on a season-high .536 attack clip, 12 digs and five blocks, while junior Kennedy Collins joined the duo with 16 kills of her own with only two errors on 22 swings for a .636 hitting percentage and four blocks.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown paced the Illini attack with a season-high 52 assists as she directed UI to a .336 team hitting percentage, while adding nine digs.
Defensively, the Illini outblocked the Wildcats, 13.0 to 8.0, with junior Kyla Swanson notching her second-straight nine-block outing. Senior Taylor Kuper led the Illini with 13 digs as the home team held Northwestern to a .184 team attack clip.
Saturday's meeting will be the first of two matches against the Wolverines this season, with the Illini also holding a 50-26 advantage in the all-time series. UI are 29-7 at home against Michigan and did not face UM during the 2020-21 spring season.
WEEK EIGHT STANDOUTS
Sophomore Raina Terry again led the Illini with a team-high 16 kills in last week's two matches, while adding 13 digs and five blocks.
Junior Kyla Swanson has continued her solid play and contributed 14 kills on a .333 hitting percentage to go along with eight blocks.
Classmate and middle blocker-mate Kennedy Collins turned in a team-high 11 blocks on the week as the Illini outblocked their opponents, 19 to 7.5.
Senior Taylor Kuper notched 23 digs to help hold UI's foes to a .183 hitting percentage.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown handed out 58 assists and added 14 digs and five blocks of her own, while directing the Illini to a .201 hitting percentage.
ILLINI FALL TO NO. 9 NEBRASKA IN LAST OUTING
The Illinois volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (21-25, 15-25, 19-25) decision to No. 9 Nebraska in the Devaney Center on Saturday (October 16).
Junior Kennedy Collins and sophomore Raina Terry led the way with seven kills each, with Collins boasting a .385 hitting percentage to go along with four blocks on the night.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown registered her 33rd career double-double and team-leading ninth of the season with 26 assists and a team-leading 10 digs, while senior Taylor Kuper added nine digs.
As a team, the Illini outblocked their opponent for the third-straight match, totaling nine stuffs to the Huskers' five, with junior Kyla Swanson pacing the team with five blocks in the match.
ILLINI EARN B1G SWEEP OVER IOWA
The Illinois volleyball team needed just an hour and 25 minutes to earn its first sweep in Big Ten Conference action as the Illini defeated Iowa, 3-0 (25-12, 25-20, 25-20) on Wednesday (Oct. 13) night in Huff Hall.
The Illini had a balanced offense as junior Jessica Nunge and sophomore Raina Terry led the way with nine kills each on hitting percentages of .391 and .300 respectively, while graduate student Megan Cooney and junior Kyla Swanson each added eight kills on the night.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown handed out 32 assists en route to directing the Illini to a .326 team attack clip, while also notching four blocks and a pair of service aces.
Senior Taylor Kuper registered a team-high 14 digs, with Cooney adding 10 digs as the Illini held the Hawkeyes to a .099 team hitting percentage. UI also outblocked Iowa, 10 to 2.5, with junior Kennedy Collins equaling a season-high with seven blocks in the win.
ILLINI NO. 35 IN NCAA RPI RANKING
The NCAA released its third RPI of the season on Monday (Oct. 19), with Illinois coming in at No. 35 in the ranking.
The Illini have or will face eight opponents that sit in the top 25, with 10 foes ranking in the top 50.
ILLINI IN NCAA & B1G RANKINGS
• Illinois is 14th the nation and leads the Big Ten in total service aces (139).
• Illinois ranks 18th in the nation and leads the Big Ten in service aces per set (1.88).
• Illinois is 87th in the NCAA in opponent hitting percentage (.185).
• Illinois is 89th in the NCAA in blocks per set (2.30).
• Sophomore Raina Terry is 19th in the NCAA and is second in the Big Ten with 33 total aces and is 43rd nationally and third in the conference with 0.45 aces per set.
• Senior Taylor Kuper ranks 54th in the NCAA and fourth in the Big Ten in aces (28).
• Along with Kuper and Terry, the Illini boast four players in the top eight in the conference for service aces, with graduate student Megan Cooney sitting in seventh (26) and junior Jessica Nunge ranking eighth (24). Cooney also sits 82nd in the NCAA in total aces.
• Kuper ranks fourth the conference in digs per set (4.38) and is 61st in the nation and tops in the Big Ten with 324 digs on the season.
• Terry also ranks fifth in the conference with 278.0 total points on the season and is 97th nationally and sits fifth in the Big Ten with 695 attacks on the season.
• Redshirt-junior Diana Brown ranks 30th in the NCAA and leads the conference with 729 total assists, while also sitting 76th nationally and ninth in the Big Ten with 9.85 assists per set.
• Junior Kennedy Collins ranks 79th in the NCAA and seventh in the Big Ten with 78.0 total blocks.
CONSISTENT COONEY INCHING TOWARDS CAREERS SETS MARK
Graduate student Megan Cooney has been a stalwart in the Illini lineup since she has been a freshman - playing in 133 of 137 in her five years. She has seen action in 504 sets, ranking her fifth all-time in program history, just 12 sets behind the program record established by Mary Eggers with 516 sets played from 1985-88.
After reaching the 1,000 kills mark a season ago on the road at Penn State, she also recently moved over 1,300 kills, 400 digs and 300 blocks in her Illini career and is closing in on 1,400 kills and 500 digs. Heading into this weekend's match, Cooney currently sits at 1,349 kills, 440 digs and 315 blocks in her career.
KUPER HITS 1,000 CAREER DIGS, CLOSING IN ON ACES RECORD
A constant in the Illini lineup through her four years at Illinois, senior Taylor Kuper reached a career milestone in the Missouri match on Sept. 17 as she collected a match-high 18 digs, with her 14th dig of the match marking her 1,000 career dig. Kuper becomes the 16th Illini to reach that mark and is currently in ninth place in program history with 1,168 career digs.
The Lenexa, Kansas native also owns 149 career service aces and moved into fourth place in program history with two aces in the win over Iowa on September 22. Illini Hall of Famer Mary Eggers owns the all-time record with 180 aces from 1985-88, with Laura Bush (1987-90) sitting in second with 176 and Disa Johnson (1984-87) in third with 154.
HEAD COACH CHRIS TAMAS IN FIFTH SEASON AT THE HELM
Chris Tamas is in his fifth season as head coach of the Fighting Illini volleyball program in 2021 after being named to the position in February 2017. Tamas (pronounced Thomas) is the eighth head coach in Illinois history.
In his five seasons at the helm of the program, Tamas has made an immediate impact on Illinois volleyball and owns an overall record of 90-47 (.657), including a 51-35 (.593) mark in the nation's toughest volleyball league, the Big Ten Conference, as well as three NCAA Tournament appearances.
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.
BARTSCH-HACKLEY INDUCTED TO ILLINOIS ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2020
Former Illini great Michelle Bartsch-Hackley was one of 15 former Illini greats that were named to the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2020. The class includes athletes and coaches from nine different sports and covers athletes from 1901 through 2013.
Bartsch-Hackley was one of the most well-rounded stars in Fighting Illini volleyball history. Bartsch-Hackley earned AVCA Third-Team All-America honors in 2010 and 2011 and Honorable Mention recognition in 2009 and was also selected to the Volleyball Magazine All-America First-Team in 2011. She was named First-Team All-Region and All-Big Ten in 2010 and 2011, was named the AVCA Mideast Region Freshman of the Year and Big Ten Freshman of the Year and placed on the Big Ten All-Freshman team in 2008, and was honorable-mention all-conference in 2009.
Bartsch-Hackley has been a U.S. National Team member since 2016 and is currently playing professionally in Istanbul. She helped lead Illinois to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen from 2008-10 and to the national championship match in 2011.
