FIRST SERVE | WEEK SEVEN
The Illinois volleyball team will look to get back in the win column when it travels to Madison, Wis., to take on No. 4 Wisconsin in UW Field House at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday (Oct. 9).
Saturday's contest 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 1,023-588-7 (.634) and a mark of 459-291 (.612) in the Big Ten.
ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD
The Illini 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 NO. 29 IN FIRST NCAA RPI RANKING
The NCAA released its first RPI of the season on Monday (Oct. 4), with Illinois coming in at No. 29 in the ranking.
The Illini have or will face eight opponents that sit in the top 25, with 12 foes ranking in the top 50.
ILLINI DROP FIVE-SET BATTLE WITH NO. 6 PURDUE
For the fourth time in the last five matches the Illinois volleyball team went to a fifth set as the Illini dropped a tough 3-2 (26-28, 25-16, 25-22, 20-25, 12-15) decision to No. 6 Purdue on Wednesday (Oct. 6) night in Huff Hall.
Graduate student Megan Cooney led the Illini (11-5, 3-2 B1G) for the third-straight match as she registered her second-straight double-double with a match-high 18 kills to go along with 11 digs and two service aces. Junior Kennedy Collins and sophomore Raina Terry each added 13 kills on the night, with Collins also posting three blocks and Terry notching a pair of aces in the match.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown tallied her 31st double-double of her career with 50 assists and 13 digs, while also notching three blocks and two aces.
Defensively, senior Taylor Kuper had her 13th-career 20-dig match with 26 in the contest, with freshman Caroline Barnes turning in a career-high 11 digs for the Illini.
ILLINI IN NCAA & B1G RANKINGS
• Illinois is fourth the nation and leads the Big Ten in total service aces (128).
• Illinois ranks 14th in the nation and leads the Big Ten in service aces per set (2.00).
• Illinois is 84th in the NCAA in opponent hitting percentage (.181).
• Illinois is 98th in the NCAA and eighth in the Big Ten with 13.08 kills per set.
• Sophomore Raina Terry is 18th in the NCAA and leads the Big Ten with 28 total aces and is 48th nationally and third in the conference with 0.45 aces per set.
• Senior Taylor Kuper ranks 20th in the NCAA and second in the Big Ten in aces (28) and is 59th in the nation and fourth in the league in aces per set (0.44).
• Kuper ranks 75th in the NCAA and third the conference in digs per set (4.52) and is 36th in the nation and tops in the Big Ten with 289 digs on the season.
• 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 third (24) and graduate student Megan Cooney sitting in sixth (22). Nunge also sits 47th nationally in total aces and Cooney ranks 90th.
• Redshirt-junior Diana Brown ranks 10th in the NCAA and leads the conference with 649 total assists, while also sitting 58th nationally and eighth in the Big Ten with 10.14 assists per set.
• Cooney ranks third in the Big Ten and 68th in the nation with 244.5 points on the season, while Terry sits right behind her in third and 75th in the NCAA with 241.0 total points.
COONEY'S CAREER MARKS
Graduate student Megan Cooney has been a stalwart in the Illini lineup since she has been a freshman - playing in 130 of 134 in her five years. She has seen action in 494 sets, ranking her in a tie for fifth all-time in program history with Anna Dorn (2010-14), just 22 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 1,331 kills, 415 digs and 307 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 with her 26 digs against No. 6 Purdue on Wednesday night, moved into the top 10 in program history with 1,133 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 89-45 (.664), including a 50-33 (.602) 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.
