FIRST SERVE | WEEK SEVEN
The Illinois volleyball team have a quick turnaround this week as the Illini will once again face No. 6 Purdue and No. 4 Wisconsin, wrapping up their home-and-home series with each team.
The week kicks off with the Illini hosting the Boilermakers on Wednesday (Oct. 6) at 8 p.m. CT in Huff Hall, before traveling to Madison, Wis., to take on the Badgers in UW Field House at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday (Oct. 9).
Both matches will be televised on Big Ten Network 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 1,023-587-7 (.635) and a mark of 459-290 (.613) in the Big Ten.
ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD
Illinois leads the all-time series with the Boilermakers, 50-42 and are 28-15 in Huff Hall. The Illini have won five of the last six meetings with Purdue, including last Friday's five-set thriller in Holloway Gymnasium.
The Illini also hold a 49-43-1 advantage in the all-time series against Wisconsin, but trail 17-22-1 all-time in Madison, Wis., with the Badgers taking last Sunday's meeting as the Illini took the opening set before UW won the next three.
ILLINI KNOCK OUT NO. 4 BOILERMAKERS IN FIVE-SET THRILLER
For the fifth time in the last six matches in West Lafayette, Illinois left Holloway Gymnasium with a victory as the Illini earned their then-sixth-straight win with a 3-2 victory over No. 4 Purdue on Oct. 1.
It was the highest-ranked win for the Illini since defeating No. 1 USC in the 2011 NCAA National Semifinal match on December 15, 2011.
It also marked the first time since 2018 that the Illini had opened league play with three-straight wins.
The Illini had four players reach double figures kills, led by graduate student Megan Cooney with a career-high-tying with 21 kills on a .260 hitting percentage. Junior Jessica Nunge turned in 15 kills, while sophomore Raina Terry registered her ninth-career double-double with 14 kills, a career-high 17 digs and two service aces.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown posted her 30th career double-double with 50 assists, 15 digs and four blocks, while defensively junior Kyla Swanson also turned in four stuffs and senior Taylor Kuper tallied her fifth 20-dig match of the season and 12th of her career with a match-high 25 digs to lead the Illini.
ILLINI BATTLE IN FOUR-SET SETBACK TO NO. 5 BADGERS
Despite taking the opening set, Illinois came up just short against No. 5 Wisconsin, falling in four (25-22, 25-20, 25-20, 17-25) on Sunday (Oct. 3) afternoon in Huff Hall.
Graduate student Megan Cooney paced the Illini with her 10th career double-double with team-highs of 13 kills on a .345 hitting percentage and 13 digs, with junior Jessica Nunge and sophomore Raina Terry adding 11 and 10 kills, respectively, to go along with eight digs.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown passed out 41 assists on the day, with senior Taylor Kuper registering 11 digs.
As a team, the Illini outblocked the Badgers, 11 to seven, with junior Kennedy Collins leading the way with six stuffs and Brown, Terry and junior Kyla Swanson adding three each.
WEEK SIX STANDOUTS
Graduate student Megan Cooney Cooney totaled a team-high 34 kills (3.78 kills per set) on a .291 hitting percentage to go along with 22 digs (2.44 digs per set) and three blocks in the two matches.
Junior Kennedy Collins paced the Illini with 11 blocks, while adding 17 kills in the two matches, while senior Taylor Kuper had 36 digs for a 4.00 digs per set mark on the weekend.
ILLINI IN NCAA & B1G RANKINGS
• Illinois is eighth the nation and leads the Big Ten in total service aces (120).
• Illinois ranks 10th in the nation and leads the Big Ten in service aces per set (2.03).
• Illinois is 79th in the NCAA in opponent hitting percentage (.178).
• Illinois is 87th in the NCAA and sixth in the Big Ten with 13.12 kills per set.
• Senior Taylor Kuper ranks 17th in the NCAA and leads the Big Ten in aces (28).
• Kuper also ranked 42nd in the nation and third in the Big Ten in aces per set (0.47).
• Kuper ranks 85th in the NCAA and fourth the conference in digs per set (4.46) and is 58th in the nationa and tops in the Big Ten with 263 digs on the season.
• Sophomore Raina Terry is 20th in the NCAA and second in the Big Ten with 27 total aces and is 50th nationally and fourth in the conference with 0.46 aces per set.
• Along with Kuper and Terry, the Illini boast four players in the top six in the conference for service aces, with junior Jessica Nunge ranking fourth (23) and graduate student Megan Cooney sitting in seventh (20). Nunge also sits 62nd nationally in total aces.
• Redshirt-junior Diana Brown ranks 20th in the NCAA and leads the conference with 599 total assists, while also sitting 57th nationally and eighth in the Big Ten with 10.15 assists per set.
• Junior Kyla Swanson ranks fourth in Big Ten play with 1.32 blocks per set.
• Cooney sits ninth in conference action with a .345 hitting percentage.
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 currently sits 12th in the program with 1,107 career digs, just 20 digs away from moving into the top-10.
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.
COONEY'S CAREER MARKS
Graduate student Megan Cooney has been a stalwart in the Illini lineup since she has been a freshman - playing in 129 of 133 in her five years. She has seen action in 489 sets, ranking her eighth all-time in program history, just 27 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 week's matches, Cooney currently sits at 1,313 kills, 404 digs and 305 blocks in her career.
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 89-44 (.669), including a 50-32 (.610) 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.
