FIRST SERVE | WEEK FIVE
After a week off due the postponement of both Northwestern matches last week, the Illinois volleyball team returns to action as it hosts Ohio State in a two-match series on Feb. 19-20 in Huff Hall.
The Illini and the Buckeyes will kick things off with a 5 p.m. CT match on Friday, before a 3 p.m. CT contest on Saturday. Both matches will be streamed on Big Ten Network+ (subscription needed) and fans can listen on the radio on WDWS 1400 in Champaign and online at FightingIllini.com.
ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD
The Illini hold a 45-41 advantage in their all-time series with Ohio State and are 23-17 in Huff Hall.
The Illini won both meetings in 2019 and have won six-straight in the series.
In the two teams' first meeting a season ago, the Illini swept OSU, 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-17) on October 26 in Huff Hall, before taking a 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-16) victory on November 24 in the Covelli Center in Columbus.
Senior Megan Cooney led all returning players with 14 kills in the two matches against OSU in 2019, with junior Mica Allison adding 13 kills on a .323 hitting percentage. Redshirt-sophomore Diana Brown handed out 84 assists for a 12.00 assists per set mark and junior Taylor Kuper totaling 23 digs for 3.29 digs per set.
As a team, the Illini registered 17 service aces to the Buckeye's five in seven sets.
PENN STATE RECAP
In a hard-fought weekend in State College, the Illinois volleyball team dropped a pair of close matches to No. 9 Penn State with a 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 20-25, 20-25) setback on Feb. 5. The Illini then took the Nittany Lions the distance in Rec Hall before falling in the fifth and final set, 3-2 (16-25, 29-27, 28-26, 15-25, 8-15) on Feb. 6.
Senior Megan Cooney was outstanding on the weekend, totaling 36 kills for a 4.00 kills per set mark, while adding 17 digs and four blocks, while freshman Raina Terry added 21 kills - including a career-high 13 in Saturday's match - as well as 12 digs, four blocks and three service aces in the two matches. Sophomore Rylee Hinton let the Illini with 10 blocks, while junior Taylor Kuper registered 29 digs for 3.22 digs per set.
Sophomore Diana Brown posted her second and third-straight double-doubles of the year after handing out 24 assists in both matches and notching 15 digs on Friday and 10 digs on Saturday.
Kuper also recorded her first-career double-double with a career-high 10 assists and a team-high 14 digs in the five-set battle on Saturday.
COONEY'S CAREER WEEKEND AT PENN STATE
Senior Megan Cooney has been a stalwart in the Illini lineup since she has been a freshman - playing in 392 of 401 matches in her four years and seeing action in all but two sets and reached a career milestone during the Illini's weekend at Penn State.
Cooney turned in a match-high and career-high 20 kills in the Friday match on Feb. 5 en route to registering her 1,000th career kill on her 13th of the night and enters the Ohio State weekend with 1,023 career kills.
She then followed up her impressive performance on Friday night with another career night on Saturday (Feb. 6), registering her first-career double-double with a team-high 16 kills and a career-high 12 digs.
ILLINI IN NCAA & B1G RANKINGS
• Illinois is 22nd the nation and leads the Big Ten in aces per set (2.00).
• Illinois ranks 55th in the nation and ranks second in the conference in service aces (48).
• Illinois is 79th in the nation in blocks per set (2.25)
• Junior Taylor Kuper is 30th in the nation and fourth in the Big Ten in aces per set (0.62).
• Kuper also ranks 54th in the NCAA and second the Big Ten in aces (15) and is fifth in the conference in digs per set (4.12).
• Sophomore Rylee Hinton ranks 40th in the nation and is fourth in the league with 1.33 blocks per set and is seventh in the Big Ten with 32 total blocks.
• Senior Megan Cooney is 46th in the nation and third in the Big Ten with 4.77 points per set and is fourth in the league with 114.5 total points.
• Cooney ranks 62nd in the nation and is sixth in the conference with 4.04 kills per set and is also sixth in the Big Ten with 10 aces.
NORTHWESTERN MATCHES POSTPONED
Both matches between Illinois volleyball and Northwestern (February 9 in Huff Hall and February 13 in Evanston) were postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the Northwestern program. The decision to postpone was mutually agreed upon out of an abundance of caution surrounding the health and safety of the participants, and the institutions will work with the Big Ten Conference to identify rescheduling options.
WELCOME TO THE 2020-21 VOLLEYBALL SEASON
The 2020-21 season marks the 47th season of Illinois volleyball, with the Illini holding an overall record of 1,007-576-7 (.636) and a mark of 451-282 (.615) in the Big Ten.
The Big Ten Conference will play a league-only schedule for the 2020-21 spring season that will run 11 weeks with two matches each week against the same opponent for a total of 22 regular-season contests. Each school wih have five two-match home series, five two-match road series and one split week with its travel partner. There will be no regular season non-conference matches and the Illini will not face Michigan or Rutgers during the season.
PANDEMIC TIMELINE
• March 13 » Big Ten suspends all athletic activities.
• June 29 » Members of the Illinois team begin returning to campus for voluntary workouts.
• July 9 » Big Ten announces conference-only schedules for fall sports.
• Aug. 7 » Illinois begins volleyball practice.
• Aug. 11 » Big Ten presidents and chancellors postpone all fall sports.
• Sept. 22 » NCAA Division I Board of Directors approved plan to hold 2020 fall championships in spring of 2021 and announces first competition date for volleyball as Jan. 22.
• Dec. 30 » Big Ten announces the 2020-21 volleyball schedule.
• Jan. 22 » Illinois at Iowa - 413 days after the Illini played in its last match in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Utah on December, 6, 2019.
• Jan. 29 » Illinois vs. Wisconsin - 431 days after the Illini played their last volleyball match in Huff Hall for the 2019 season, earning a 3-1 win over Northwestern on November 27, 2019.
ROSTER RUNDOWN
The Illini return 12 members from the 2019 squad, including All-Big Ten Freshman Team honoree Diana Brown, senior Megan Cooney and defensive specialist Taylor Kuper.
Seniors Kylie Bruder and Emily Hollowell, junior Mica Allison, redshirt-sophomore Bruna Vrankovic and sophomores Kennedy Collins, Rylee Hinton, Kyla Swanson and Alyssa Eske complete the returning roster.
Redshirt-freshman Ellie Holzman - who was with the Illini in 2019, but redshirted the season - will join three other freshmen Maddie Whittington, Raina Terry and Sophie Gregus for the 2020-21 campaign.
BIG TEN NETWORK RELEASES VOLLEYBALL BROADCAST SCHEDULE
Big Ten Network announced its 2020-21 volleyball broadcast schedule on January 19, with Illinois appearing nationally on the network for four matches this spring.
All matches televised on Big Ten Network will also be streamed on FoxSports.com and the FoxSports app. All remaining home matches will be streamed on BTNPlus.com (subscription necessary), with remaining road matches announced at a later date.
» Saturday, January 30 vs. Wisconsin (11 a.m. CT)
» Friday, February 5 at Penn State (8 p.m. CT)
» Friday, March 5 vs. Nebraska (TBD)
» Friday, March 26 vs. Indiana (TBD)
HEAD COACH CHRIS TAMAS STARTS FOURTH SEASON AT THE HELM
Chris Tamas is entering his fourth season as head coach of the Fighting Illini volleyball program in 2020-21 after being named to the position in February 2017. Tamas (pronounced Thomas) is the eighth head coach in Illinois history.
In his first four seasons at the helm of the program, Tamas has made an immediate impact on Illinois volleyball and owns an overall record of 73-33 (.689), including a 42-24 (.636) mark in the nation's toughest volleyball league, the Big Ten Conference, as well as three-straight 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.
