Illinois Welcomes Northwestern for Midweek Clash at Huff Hall

MATCH 23

Illinois volleyball goes for its sixth straight victory when the team hosts Northwestern at Huff Hall on Wednesday night. First serve on Big Ten Network is slated for 8 p.m. CT.

The 2023 campaign marks the 50th season of Illinois volleyball, with the Illini holding an overall record of 1,062-620-7 (.629). Chris Tamas enters his seventh season at the helm for the Orange and Blue, boasting a 127-77 (.623) mark.

An audio stream of the match will be available on FightingIllini.com/live or live in the Champaign-Urbana area on WDWS 1400AM & 93.9FM with Tim Ditman. 

LAST TIME OUT

The Fighting Illini stunned #16 Purdue in a four-set battle at Huff Hall on Saturday night. The win marked the Orange and Blue's first triumph over a ranked opponent this season. 

Raina Terry led the way with a team-high 19 kills, while the Orange and Blue dominated at the net with 15.5 total blocks. Brooke Mosher recorded a career-high 47 assists in the win, alongside two aces, four kills, and six blocks, the latter of which tied her career-best mark.

Kennedy Collins paced the squad with a team-high nine blocks, while she also tallied nine kills and three digs. Kayla Burbage and Jessica Nunge each registered seven kills, with the former also recording five blocks and the latter also totaling six digs.

Cari Bohm tied her career-high stuffs, finishing a strong night at the net with seven blocks and six kills. Caroline Barnes made a team-high 16 digs in the winning effort, her eighth consecutive outing in double digits.

ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD

Illinois owns the 64-31 advantage over Northwestern during the all-time series between the programs. However, the last meeting between the programs went the way of the Wildcats, with NU earning the sweep over the Illini, ending the Orange and Blue's 2022 campaign. When playing at Huff Hall, Illinois is 35-9 all-time, and with Chris Tamas at the helm, Illinois owns a 8-2 mark.

ILLINI IN THE RANKINGS

Terry is currently ranked in the top-10 nationally in several categories. The senior outside hitter comes into the week third nationally in attacks per set (13.02) and 13th for kills per set (4.52). Terry's 5.20 points per set is 12th nationally, while her 398 total kills rank first in the league and also seventh nationally. Her 1,146 total attacks also pace the Big Ten and are the fourth-most in the country. With 458.0 total points, the Ohio native currently sits atop the league standings and eighth in all of Division I. In the Illinois career rankings, Terry sits in ninth all-time with 1,493 career kills.

THE 400 CLUB

Illinois graduate student Kennedy Collins tallied her 400th career block against UCF as a part of the Boilermaker Challenge. Playing all five years of her career in the Orange and Blue, Collins has 47 solo roofs, 412 block assists and 459.0 total blocks, so far. During her junior campaign, the Zion, Ill., native recorded 126 total blocks, averaging 1.07 blocks per set. In this season alone, Collins has already amassed 11 solo blocks and 94 block assists. She currently ranks ninth in the Illini all-time rankings with 459 total blocks.

TERRY EYES TOP-10 KILLS

Raina Terry continues to etch her name in the Fighting Illini record books. The outside hitter sits 11th all-time with 1,493 career kills. With 398 in her senior campaign, Terry eyes former teammate Megan Cooney, who ranks 10th in the history books with 1,507 career kills.

Illinois Volleyball Career Service Kills Rankings

OPPONENT SCOUT

The Wildcats come to Champaign at 11-11 on the year with a 5-7 mark against league opponents. The team boasts a 4-5 record on the road this season, including a 3-2 victory at then-ranked #17 Purdue. Julia Sangiacomo comes into the match sixth in the Big Ten with 3.94 kills per set. The Santa Clara transfer also ranks seventh in the league with 4.26 points per set.

BIG BLOCK O'CLOCK

The Fighting Illini block has caused problems for opponents so far this season. Through 22 matches, the Orange and Blue have tallied double-digit roofs in 12 contests. The team's season-high 17 blocks came on two separate occasions, against Michigan State on Sept. 24 and at Maryland on Oct. 22. In matches when the Illini lead opponents in blocks, Illinois owns a 11-3 record.

ACE, ACE BABY

Illinois registered a new season-best 12 service aces at Ohio State on Oct. 13. Individually, Brooke Mosher led the way, logging a new career-best five aces during the four-set battle. It was the second time this year the team posted 10 or more strikes from the service line, with the previous season high coming at Bradley on Sept. 12. Against Indiana, the Illini also tallied 10 aces, with Kennedy Collins leading the way with a career-best five in the match.

Last year, the Orange and Blue added double-digit aces on two separate occasions, including a new program-best 18 against Missouri State on Sept. 9, 2022.

NUNGE NATION

Jessica Nunge returned to the Fighting Illini volleyball team for her fifth year, as announced on Sept. 1. The outside hitter made her season debut in the second set against Wichita State. For the full story on Nunge's decision to return, click here.

HALL-OF-FAMER HENDRICKSON

Krista Hendrickson was inducted into the University of Washington Husky Hall of Fame on Oct. 22. For the full story on Hendrickson's accomplishment, click here.

REIGN OF TERROR

For a second-straight year, Raina Terry was named to the Big Ten Preseason Team. Terry was one of 15 conference student-athletes to earn the accolade.

The outside hitter was a unanimous All-Big Ten first-team selection following her junior season. The Marengo, Ohio, native joined an elite group of 32 Illini players who have earned AVCA Northeast All-Region honors.

Last season, Terry led the Orange and Blue with 444 kills and 4.07 kills per set. The outside hitter paced the Big Ten with 363 points during conference play, averaging 3.04 points per set. 

During her junior campaign, Terry recorded over 20 kills on three separate occasions, all during Big Ten play. She tallied a season-high 24 kills against both Purdue (Sept. 30) and Penn State (Oct. 26). Her first effort came against Maryland on Sept. 23, when she logged 20 kills in a four-set battle on the road.

Over halfway through her senior year, Terry has tallied 20 or more kills in seven matches, including a new career-best 28 kills at Ohio State on Oct. 13. Terry went back-to-back following the performance at OSU with 24 kills against Rutgers, marking the first time in her career she tallied 20 or more kills in two straight matches.

A staple in the Illini lineup, Terry has paced the squad in kills in all but two matches and has registered 398 kills in this season alone while hitting .200 on the year with 4.52 kills per set. One of the top left-side blockers in the nation, the Marengo, Ohio, native owns 11 solo stuffs and 54 block assists for 65 total roofs in 2023. 

TERRY ENTERS CAREER ACES TOP-10

Six-rotation outside hitter Raina Terry owns 150 career service aces. Terry tallied 28 aces as a freshman, 55 as a sophomore, and 45 last year. With 22 aces during her senior campaign, the Ohio native is currently fifth on Illinois' all-time career aces rankings. She also sits 21st nationally for career aces.

Illinois Volleyball Career Service Ace Rankings

1. Mary Eggers - 1985-88 - 180
2. Laura Bush - 1987-90 - 176
3. Taylor Kuper - 2018-21 - 173
4. Disa Johnson - 1984-87 - 154
5. Raina Terry - 2020-present - 150
6. Lorna Henderson - 1989-92 - 146
7. Tina Rogers - 1990-93 - 143
8. Chris Schwarz - 1985-88 - 141
9. Sandy Scholtens - 1985-88 - 131
10. Nancy Brookhart - 1986-89 - 122

ILLINI IN THE PRESEASON POLL

Illinois volleyball was picked to finish seventh in the league standings in 2023, the conference announced in late July. Reigning national champion Wisconsin was picked as the conference favorite for the 2023 volleyball season as voted on by Big Ten coaches, while Nebraska was picked to finish second and Minnesota was tabbed third. 

HEAD COACH CHRIS TAMAS AT THE HELM

Chris Tamas enters his seventh season as head coach of the Fighting Illini volleyball program in 2023 after being named to the position in February 2017. Tamas (pronounced Thomas) is the eighth head coach in Illinois history.

In his time with the program, Tamas has made an impressive impact on Illinois volleyball and owns an overall record of 127-77 (.623), including a 76-54 (.585) mark in the nation's toughest volleyball league, the Big Ten Conference, as well as four NCAA Tournament appearances, including three NCAA Regional appearances and a trip to the Final Four in 2018. 

Tamas, most recently, earned his 100th career win - with all 100 coming at the helm of the Illini program - after leading Illinois to its third trip to the Sweet 16 in five seasons after back-to-back wins to open the 2021 NCAA tournament, including a four-set win over 2020-21 national champion and No. 7 seed Kentucky in Lexington. The Illini finished the 2021 season ranked No. 16 in the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll with a 22-12 overall record and finished seventh with a 12-8 mark in the Big Ten Conference.  

Illinois experienced one of its most successful seasons ever in 2018 under Tamas, who was subsequently named 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 ending the season ranked No. 3 in the 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 in school history.

Under Tamas' leadership, the Illini collected a number of individual honors, highlighted by AVCA All-America First-Team selections in Jordyn Poulter and Jacqueline Quade – the first time in program history Illinois has had multiple first-team honors in a season – as well as a Third-Team selection in Ali Bastianelli. Poulter and Bastianelli, who also garnered All-America Third-Team honors in 2017, were also named Senior CLASS Award finalists and CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees. The trio also collected unanimous All-Big Ten First Team accolades, with junior Ashlyn Fleming named to the second team and Poulter garnering the Illini's first-ever Big Ten Conference Co-Setter of the Year honor.

SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN

The 2023 schedule features a nonconference slate of 10 matches with a pair of opponents from last year's NCAA Tournament. The Orange and Blue squad will face Big Ten opponents in 20 matches, including home-and-home series with Purdue, Ohio State, and Wisconsin, three NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago.

Breakdown of opponents for the 2023 Big Ten schedule:

Home & Away – Indiana, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue, Ohio State, Rutgers, Wisconsin
Home Only – Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State
Away Only – Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska

Schedule Notes

• 30 total matches
• 13 matches at Huff Hall
• 14 away matches, three neutral-site matches
• NCAA Tournament:
    - Qualifiers: 8 (Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, UCF, USC, Wisconsin)
    - Sweet 16: 5 (Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin)
    - Elite Eight: 2 (Ohio State, Wisconsin)
• Season opener: Aug. 26 at Northern Illinois
• Home opener:  Aug. 29 vs. Valparaiso 
• B1G opener: Sept. 20 at Indiana
• B1G home opener: Sept. 24 vs. Michigan State