FIRST SERVE | WEEK 10
The Illinois volleyball team are set to wrap up its 2020-21 home schedule this weekend as the Illini welcome in Indiana for Senior Weekend on March 26-27 in Huff Hall.
The Illini and Hoosiers will open the weekend with a 7 p.m. CT match on Friday night, before a 8 p.m. CT Big Ten Network-broadcasted contest on Saturday. Friday's match will be streamed on Big Ten Network+ (subscription needed), while fans can also listen to both matches on the radio on WDWS 1400 in Champaign and online at wdws.com.
Following Saturday's home finale, the Illini will recognize five seniors, including Mica Allison, Kylie Bruder, Emily Hollowell, Megan Cooney and manager/volunteer technical coordinator Ryan Anton.
ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD
The Illini own a 70-17 record in the all-time series with Indiana and hold a 35-5 mark in Huff Hall.
Illinois has won 16-straight against the Hoosiers, including sweeping both matches with a 3-0 score during the 2019 season.
Senior Megan Cooney totaled a team-high 19 kills on a .484 hitting percentage to go along with four blocks in the two matches, while redshirt-sophomore Diana Brown handed out 62 assists for a 10.33 assists per set mark as well as posting four service aces and a team-high 20 digs.
ILLINI SWEEP MARYLAND
The Illinois volleyball earned a weekend sweep with back-to-back wins over Maryland with a 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-22) victory on Friday and a five-set (27-25, 12-25, 25-22, 26-24, 15-9) victory on Saturday in Huff Hall.
FRIDAY
Redshirt-sophomore Bruna Vrankovic led all players with 16 kills, while freshman Raina Terry came within just two service aces of a triple-double after totaling 13 kills and career-highs of 15 digs and eight aces.
Terry's eight aces also tied for the second-most in a single match in program history, just one off the program record of nine, set by Colleen Ward against BYU during the 2010 season.
Redshirt-sophomore Diana Brown also notched her third-straight double-double wih 39 assists and a team-high 16 digs to go along with a pair of blocks.
Brown and Terry were just two of the four Illini with double digit digs as junior Taylor Kuper picked up 15 digs and sophomore Alyssa Eske – earning her first-career start on the night – added 12 digs.
SATURDAY
Terry continued to dominate offensively for the Illini with a match-high and career-high 23 kills, while Vrankovic also turned in a career-high 18 kills and served up her first two career service aces on the night. Joining the duo in double figures was sophomore Kennedy Collins with 11 kills to go along with a match-high five blocks.
Brown had another strong outing as the setter registered her fourth-straight double-double – the 22nd of her career and team-leading eighth of the season – with 48 assists and a career-high-tying 17 digs, while also contributing a match-high five blocks as well.
Kuper posted a team-high 18 digs to lead the Illini defensively.
WEEKEND STANDOUTS
Redshirt-sophomore Diana Brown tallied her third- and fourth-straight double-doubles en route to totaling 87 assists for a 9.67 assists per set average, while also registering a team-high 33 digs for a 3.67 digs per set mark and posting the second-most blocks on the team with seven in the two matches.
Redshirt-sophomore Bruna Vrankovic totaled 34 kills for a 3.78 kills per set mark to go along with 11 digs on the weekend.
Sophomore Kennedy Collins had another solid weekend with 18 kills and a team-leading eight blocks in the two wins.
TERRY TABBED BIG TEN FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
After leading Illinois to a weekend sweep with back-to-back wins over Maryland this past weekend, freshman Raina Terry was selected as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week, the conference announced on Monday (March 22).
This marks the second weekly conference honor the Illini have received this season and the first-career accolade for Terry.
The freshman totaled 36 kills for a 4.00 kills per set average to go along with 21 digs for a 2.33 digs per set mark, eight service aces, one block and one assist in the two matches.
On Friday, she came within just two aces of a triple-double after totaling 13 kills and career-highs of 15 digs and eight aces for her third-straight double-double. Her eight aces also tied for the second-most in a single match in program history, just one off the program record of nine.
The Marengo, Ohio native then continued to dominate offensively with a match-high and career-high 23 kills to go along with six digs on Saturday.
TERRY TEARING IT UP
A regular in the lineup all season, freshman Raina Terry has turned her play on the court up another level and has registered nine-straight double-digit kill outings as well as posting double-doubles in five of her last eight matches.
In her last eight matches, Terry has totaled a team-leading 125 kills for a 3.91 kills per set average on a .215 hitting percentage, while also adding the third-most digs on the team with 74 (2.31 digs per set) and the most aces with 18. She has also notched five blocks in that span.
Last weekend against Maryland, Terry posted career-highs of 23 kills on Saturday and 15 digs and eight aces on Friday.
Her eight aces also tied for the second-most in a single match in program history, just one off the program record of nine, set by Colleen Ward against BYU during the 2010 season.
ILLINI IN NCAA & B1G RANKINGS
• Illinois is 18th the nation and leads the Big Ten in aces per set (1.88).
• Illinois ranks 22nd in the nation and paces the conference in service aces (105).
• Illinois is sixth in the Big Ten with 13.54 digs per set.
• Junior Taylor Kuper is 10th in the NCAA and leads the Big Ten in aces (31).
• Kuper also ranks 16th in the nation and first in the Big Ten in aces per set (0.55).
• Kuper ranks second the conference in digs per set (4.41).
• Freshman Raina Terry is 56th nationally and fourth in the Big Ten in aces per set (0.51) and is 63rd in the NCAA and fourh in the league with 24 aces.
• Sophomore Rylee Hinton ranks 78th in the nation and eighth in the Big Ten with 62 total blocks and is 81st in the NCAA and 10th in the conference with 1.15 blocks per set.
• Senior Megan Cooney is 10th in the Big Ten with 4.10 points per set and is seventh in the league with 192.5 total points.
• Cooney is also ninth in the conference with 3.53 kills per set.
THE BIG TEN GAUNTLET
After opening the 2020-21 season with a pair of wins at Iowa on Jan. 22-23, Illinois faced five of the top six teams in the Big Ten Conference in consecutive weeks, with all five teams continuing to sit in the top 12 of this week's AVCA Volleyball Top 25 Poll: No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 4 Minnesota, No. 5 Nebraska, No. 9 Ohio State and No. 11 Penn State. The Illini are set to face the sixth team - No. 10 Purdue - the final weekend of the regular season on April 2-3.
The five teams have also combined for a 58-10 record - with five losses coming from No. 11 Penn State.
The Illini are also one of only three teams to take a set of No. 1 Wisconsin and were the first team to do so, winning the third set in its Saturday match against the Badgers on Jan. 30.
THE 2020-21 VOLLEYBALL SEASON
The 2020-21 season marks the 47th season of Illinois volleyball, with the Illini holding an overall record of 1,009-582-7 (.634) and a mark of 453-288 (.611) 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
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.
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 (8 p.m. CT)
» Saturday, March 27 vs. Indiana (8 p.m. CT)
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 75-39 (.658), including a 44-30 (.595) 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.
