FIRST SERVE | WEEK THREE
The Illinois volleyball team continues the 2020-21 spring season with a trip to University Park, Pa., to take on No. 9 Penn State this weekend.
The Illini and the Nittany Lions open the two-match series with a Big Ten Network-broadcasted match on Friday (Feb. 5) at 8 p.m. CT in Rec Hall, before finishing up the weekend with a 5:30 p.m. CT contest on Saturday (Feb. 6). Saturday's match will be streamed on Big Ten Network+ (subscription needed) and fans can listen to both matches on the radio on WDWS 1400 in Champaign and online at FightingIllini.com.
ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD
The Illini trail in the series with the Nittany Lions, 11-47 and are 3-25 in Rec Hall.
Penn State took both meetings in 2019, with the Illini's last win against PSU coming in a 3-2 victory on November 10, 2018 in Huff Hall. The Illini last won in State College during the 2014 season with a 3-1 win on October 11.
In the first meeting in 2019 on October 23, the Illini opened a two-set lead, before falling in a five-set thriller (25-18, 26-24, 15-25, 28-30, 13-15) against PSU in Rec Hall.
The Nittany Lions then swept the second meeting on November 15 in a 3-0 (15-25, 22-25, 18-25) decision on illiNOISE Night at Huff Hall.
Senior Megan Cooney led all returning players with 19 kills in the two matches against PSU in 2019, with redshirt-sophomore Diana Brown handing out 78 assists and posting 21 digs. Sophomore Kennedy Collins added six blocks in the two matches.
WEEKEND RECAP
Illinois battled against No. 1 Wisconsin over the past weekend, falling short in both matches against the Badgers. On Friday, the Illini dropped a 3-0 (20-25, 28-30, 9-25) decision, before a 3-1 (25-27, 20-25, 25-21, 12-25) setback on Saturday in Huff Hall. The third set win for the Illini marked the first set the Badgers have dropped all season.
Senior Megan Cooney was lights out offensively for the Illini, totaling 31 kills for a 4.43 kills per set mark on a .310 hitting percentage. On the defensive end, junior Taylor Kuper paced UI with 31 digs for a 4.43 digs per set mark and added five aces.
Saturday standouts included Cooney having a match-high 18 kills on a .366 hitting percentage, with redshirt-sophomore Bruna Vrankovic matching a career-high with 10 kills and sophomore Kennedy Collins adding eight kills on a .583 attack clip.
Sophomore Diana Brown also registered her first double-double of the season on Saturday with 24 assists and 12 digs, while Kuper came just two assists short of her first-career double-double with a team-high 15 digs to go along with a career-high eight assists and two service aces.
COONEY CLOSING IN ON 1,000 KILLS
Senior Megan Cooney has been a stalwart in the Illini lineup since she has been a freshman - playing in 383 of 392 matches in her four years and seeing action in all but two sets - and currently owns 987 kills in her career. She needs just 13 more to reach 1,000 career kills.
ILLINI IN NCAA & B1G RANKINGS
• Illinois is 12th the nation and second in the Big Ten in aces per set (2.27).
• Illinois ranks 45th in the nation and leads the conference in service aces (34).
• Illinois is 49th in the nation and ranks fifth in the Big Ten in blocks per set (2.40)
• Illinois is second in the Big Ten in blocks (36.5).
• Illinois is third in the Big Ten in kills (188) and assists (164) and fourth in digs (188).
• Illinois is sixth in the Big Ten in opponent hitting percentage (.218).
• Junior Taylor Kuper is 15th in the nation and third in the Big Ten in aces per set (0.80).
• Kuper also leads the Big Ten in digs per set (4.76) and aces (12) and is second in total digs (70).
• Sophomore Rylee Hinton ranks 27th in the nation and is fifth in the league with 1.53 blocks per set and is second in the Big Ten with 22 total blocks.
• Senior Megan Cooney is 30th in the nation and second in the Big Ten with 4.97 points per set and is second in the league with 74.5 total points.
• Cooney ranks 43rd in the nation and is second in the conference with 4.07 kills per set and is also third in the Big Ten with eight aces.
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 1,007-574-7 (.636) and a mark of 451-280 (.617) 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 five 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)
» Tuesday, February 9 vs. Northwestern (7 p.m. CT)
» Friday, March 5 vs. Nebraska (TBD)
» Friday, March 26 vs. Indiana (TBD)
2019 IN REVIEW
Illinois advanced to its third-straight NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Chris Tamas in 2019, wrapping up the year with a 16-14 overall record and a seventh place finish in the Big Ten Conference with a 11-9 mark.
The Illini made its 26th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, falling to Utah in a hard-fought five-set battle (23-25, 26-24, 27-25, 23-25, 10-15) in Smith Fieldhouse on the campus of BYU on December 6, 2019.
Big Ten All-Freshman Team honoree Diana Brown returns for her second season as the Illini setter after she started all 30 matches on the season, playing in all 118 sets - only one of three players to do both on the team. Brown totaled 1,294 assists for a 10.97 assists per set mark to rank fourth in the Big Ten while leading the Illini to a .231 team hitting percentage.
She also ranked second on the team with 275 digs and third on the team with 59 blocks, while adding 55 kills and 18 service aces.
Senior outside hitter Megan Cooney also returns after ranking second on the team with 347 kills on a .212 hitting percentage, to go along with 55.0 total blocks, including ranking second on the team with nine solo blocks, and also adding 50 digs.
Another offensive thread Brown will look to go to is sophomore Kennedy Collins, who ranked fourth on the team with 129 kills on a .235 attack clip and was second on the roster with 80 total blocks, while also adding 17 digs in her rookie campaign in 2019.
Junior Taylor Kuper looks to lead the Illini defensively after playing in all 30 matches in 2019 and ranking fourth on the team with 249 digs and second on the roster with 37 service aces, while adding 27 assists.
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 73-31 (.702), including a 42-22 (.656) 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.
