| WEEK 13: NO. 24 ILLINOIS (17-10, 9-7 B1G) at INDIANA (9-19, 3-13 B1G) // VS. MARYLAND (18-10, 6-10 B1G) |
| Match 28: Indiana |
Friday, Nov. 19 // 6 p.m. CT // Wilkinson Hall // Bloomington, Ind. |
| Match 29: Maryland |
Sunday, Nov. 21 // 12 p.m. // Huff Hall // Champaign, Ill. |
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| Series History |
Indiana: Illinois leads, 73-17 | Last Match: Illinois won, 3-0, on 11/12/2021 | Streak: Won 19 | Results
Maryland: Illinois leads, 11-0 | Last Match: Illinois won, 3-2, on 3/20/2021 | Streak: Won 11 | Results |
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FIRST SERVE | WEEK 13
The Illinois volleyball team heads back on the road to face Indiana for the second time in eight days as the Illini travel to Bloomington, Ind., for a 6 p.m. CT match on Friday (November 19), before returning to Huff Hall to host Maryland on Senior Day on Sunday (November 21) at 12 p.m. CT.
Both matches will be streamed on B1G+ ($) and 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 1,029-593-7 (.634) and a mark of 465-296 (.611) in the Big Ten.
PROMOTIONS
SENIOR DAY // SUNDAY VS. MARYLAND
Join the Illinois volleyball team as we honor senior manager Michael Ryan, senior Taylor Kuper and graduate students Megan Cooney and Kylie Bruder immediately following the conclusion of the match.
ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD
The Illini lead the all-time series with the Hoosiers, 73-17, with a 30-8 mark in road matches. The Illini have won 19-straight matches against IU, including last Friday night's sweep in Huff Hall.
The Illini are also leading in the all-time series with the Terrapins, 11-0 and are 7-0 in Huff Hall, including taking both matches in the 2020-21 season.
ILLINI RANKED NO. 24 IN AVCA POLL
After two weeks ranked at No. 25 in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll, the Illinois volleyball team moved up one spot to No. 24 in this week's poll. The Illini entered the poll at No. 25 during week 11, marking the first time since 2019 season the Illini were ranked.
Illinois is one of seven Big Ten schools ranked in the AVCA Poll with No. 5 Wisconsin, No. 6 Purdue, No. 9 Minnesota, No. 10 Ohio State, No. 11 Nebraska and No. 15 Penn State joining the Illini.
Along with their conference foes, the Illini have faced two other opponents in the top-25, including No. 12 Washington and No. 21 Creighton.
ILLINI NO. 30 IN NCAA RPI RANKING
The NCAA released its sixth RPI of the season on Monday (November 15), with Illinois coming in at No. 30 in the ranking.
The Illini have or will face seven opponents that sit in the top 25, with 10 foes ranking in the top 75.
BROWN AND COONEY NAMED CoSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
Illinois redshirt-junior Diana Brown and graduate student Megan Cooney garnered Academic All-District honors for district 5, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced on Thursday (November 18). It is the second-straight first-team accolade for Brown, who also earned the honor following the 2020-21 season, with Cooney collecting second-team honors for the first time in her career.
The honor, which is selected by CoSIDA members, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. Brown now advances to the Academic All-America team ballot as a first-team selection.
It is the first time since 2018 that the Illini have had multiple Academic All-District honors with former greats Jordyn Poulter and Ali Bastianelli named to the first- and second-teams, respectively.
Brown owns a 4.00 GPA in molecular and cellular biology, while Cooney registered a 3.46 undergraduate GPA after earning a bachelor's degree in speech and hearing science in May and currently owns a 4.00 GPA in her speech and hearing science graduate program.
The duo has started all 27 matches for the Illini, with Brown dishing out 1,036 assists for a 10.06 assists per set mark, while directing the Illini to a .217 team hitting percentage She paces the team with 13 double-doubles, ranking second in digs (244) and fourth in blocks (60) on the team. She is a two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and Academic All-Big Ten honoree.
The 'Iron Woman' of the Illini, Cooney recently became the program's career sets played leader and has played in 533 sets in her career at Illinois, playing in 141 of 145 matches in her five year. She ranks second on the team with 303 kills for a 2.94 kill per set on a .253 hitting percentage, while also ranking third on the team in digs (239), blocks (72) and service aces (28). A 2020-21 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and three-time Academic All-Big Ten, Cooney was named All-Big Ten Second-Team a season ago.
WEEK 12 STANDOUTS
Sophomore Raina Terry led the Illini with 29 kills on a .213 hitting percentage, with graduate student Megan Cooney totaling 23 kills on a .327 attack clip, while adding six blocks.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown registered 68 assists for a 11.33 assists per set, while adding 15 digs and six blocks.
For the second-straight weekend, redshirt-freshman Maddie Whittington started both matches for the Illini, leading the team with nine blocks.
Senior Taylor Kuper collecte 38 digs for a 6.33 digs per set mark, while also adding a team-high four service aces.
ILLINI FALL IN THREE TO NO. 10 OHIO STATE
The No. 25 Illinois volleyball team fought, but fell to No. 10 Ohio State, 3-0 (25-27, 18-25, 23-25) on Sunday (November 14) afternoon in Huff Hall.
Graduate student Megan Cooney led the Illini with 11 kills on a .222 hitting percentage to go along with four blocks, with sophomore Raina Terry adding nine kills and junior Kyla Swanson posting seven kills on a .429 attack clip and three blocks.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown registered her 37th career double-double and team-leading 13th of the season with 29 assists, 11 digs and three blocks. Defensively, senior Taylor Kuper turned in a match-high 17 digs, with redshirt-freshman Maddie Whittington equaling a career-high with five blocks in the match.
ILLINI EARN FRIDAY NIGHT SWEEP OF HOOSIERS
Illinois needed just under 90 minutes to secure a 3-0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-17) sweep of Indiana on Friday (November 12) night in Huff Hall.
Sophomore Raina Terry came within one kill of a season-high as she paced the Illini with a match-high 20 kills on a .395 hitting percentage to go along with seven digs and a pair of service aces. It was the fourth 20-kill match of her career. Joining her in double figured was graduate student Megan Cooney with 12 kills on a .455 attack clip.
Redshirt-junior Diana Brown directed the Illini to a season-high .383 team hitting percentage as she passed out 39 assists, while adding three blocks.
On the defensive side, UI held the Hoosier to a .067 hitting percentage with senior Taylor Kuper recording 21 digs – her 15th career match with 20 or more digs – to go along with a team-high three aces on the night. At the net, the Illini outblocked IU, 7.0 to 4.0, with redshirt-freshman Maddie Whittington leading the way with four blocks, while junior Rylee Hinton – making her season debut – also posted three stuffs in the win.
IRON WOMAN COONEY BECOMES ALL-TIME LEADER IN CAREER SETS
Graduate student Megan Cooney has been a stalwart in the Illini lineup since she has been a freshman - playing in 141 of 145 in her five years.
On October 29 at Rutgers, Cooney became the all-time leader in career sets played at Illinois and has currently played in 533 sets in her storied career. She passes Illinois Hall of Famer Mary Eggers' previous program record of 516 sets played that she established from 1985-88.
After reaching the 1,000 kills mark a season ago on the road at Penn State, she also recently moved over 1,400 kills and reached 500 digs in her Illini career over the weekend. Heading into this weekend's matches, Cooney currently sits at 1,434 kills, 503 digs and 335 blocks in her career.
STRONG ILLINI BLOCK IN BIG TEN PLAY
Since the start of Big Ten play, Illinois has outblocked its opponents in all but five matches and have outblocked eight of their last 11 foes.
The Illini rank fifth in conference action with 2.40 blocks per set and have totaled the fourth most blocks in league action (151).
ILLINI IN NCAA & B1G RANKINGS
• Illinois is 12th the nation and leads the Big Ten in total service aces (195).
• Illinois ranks 15th in the nation and leads the Big Ten in service aces per set (1.89).
• Illinois is 54th in the NCAA in team total blocks (237.5).
• Illinois is 84th in the NCAA in blocks per set (2.31).
• Illinois is 89th in the NCAA in team kills (1,318).
• Illinois is 97th in the nation in team assists (1,197).
• Sophomore Raina Terry is 17th in the NCAA and leads the Big Ten with 46 total aces and is 29th nationally and second in the conference with 0.45 aces per set.
• Senior Taylor Kuper ranks 27th in the NCAA and second in the Big Ten in aces (42) and is 56th in the nation and fourth in the Big Ten with 0.41 aces per set.
• Kuper ranks fourth the conference in digs per set (4.49) and is 54th in the nation and first in the Big Ten with 462 digs on the season.
• Terry also ranks 76th in the NCAA and is fifth in the conference with 413.0 total points on the season and is 68th nationally and sits fourth in the Big Ten with 1,039 attacks on the season.
• Redshirt-junior Diana Brown ranks 25th in the NCAA and is second in the conference with 1,036 total assists, while also sitting 65th nationally and seventh in the Big Ten with 10.06 assists per set.
• Junior Kennedy Collins ranks 79th in the NCAA and eighth in the Big Ten with 107.0 total blocks.
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 seventh place in program history with 1,306 career digs.
The Lenexa, Kansas native also owns 163 career service aces and moved into third place in program history with four total aces in wins at Rutgers and No. 13 Penn State. 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.
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 95-50 (.655), including a 56-38 (.596) 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.
