Illini Remain on the Road to Face Ohio State, Northwestern

MATCHES 16+17

Currently on a three-match winning streak, Illinois closes its road trip with contests at Ohio State and Northwestern. The Fighting Illini will battle the Buckeyes on Friday at 5 p.m. CT before playing the Wildcats in an in-state battle on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT.

Both matches will stream on B1G+.

LAST TIME OUT

Illinois closed its time on the East Coast with a road sweep over Rutgers at Jersey Mike's Arena on Oct. 11. The Fighting Illini are now 5-1 in conference play, their best start since 2011.

Taylor de Boer led the Illini with 16 kills, her sixth straight outing with double-digit kills. Swinging at a .379 clip, she also added two blocks.

Alyssa Aguayo also finished in double figures with 11 kills, three digs, a block, and an assist alongside a .333 hitting percentage.

Ashlyn Philpot amassed six kills, three blocks, and two digs. Kayla Burbage totaled four kills, five blocks, and a dig.

Kenna Phelan tallied 32 assists, nine digs, three kills, and a block, while Averie Hernandez tied her career-high with four aces. 

OPPONENT SCOUT

Ohio State comes into Friday's contest with a 3-11 record, with the Buckeyes beginning their Big Ten slate with matches against UCLA, USC, Washington, Oregon, Purdue, and Minnesota. OSU is 1-5 at home this season.

The Buckeyes brought back twelve players from a season ago while also reloading via the transfer portal and its 2025 recruiting class. Hannah Jones returns after having a good year in 2024, when she ended with 223 kills. So far this season, she has already accumulated 198 kills at a team-best 3.74 kills/set average.

OSU's three wins this year came against Miami (Ohio) (5 sets), Ohio (3 sets), and Troy (5 sets).

Ohio State is led by Jen Flynn Oldenburg, who is a former standout OSU volleyball player. Oldenburg was hired to take over the Buckeyes in 2020. Flynn Oldenburg spent 10 seasons (2003-12) at Illinois as an assistant coach.

Northwestern heads into the weekend with a 12-6 record, including a 2-4 mark in conference play. The Wildcats split its matches last week, sweeping Rutgers away from home before falling in four sets at #19 Penn State.

The Wildcats returned nine players from its 2024 roster that posted a 5-23 overall record while bringing in nine newcomers. Senior Rylen Reid leads the Wildcat offense with 3.25 kills/set, while her 211 kills rank 10th in the Big Ten. Reid also leads the team in aces, with Northwestern entering the week sitting third in the conference in aces/set (1.74).

Tim Nollan is in his second season at the helm of Northwestern, holding a 17-29 record since joining the Wildcat program. Nollan made the move to the Big Ten after spending eight seasons at Grand Canyon (2016-23).

SERIES HISTORY

Heading into the 94th all-time meeting between the programs, Illinois holds a narrow 47-46 edge against the Buckeyes since the series began back in 1974. Ohio State has won five of the last seven matchups, but Illinois has taken the last two. The Buckeyes are looking for their first win against the Illini since Oct. 13, 2023, which was also in Columbus where they will be playing this Friday.

The Fighting Illini are 67-32 against Northwestern ahead of the 100th meeting in the all-time series. Illinois won both matchups last season via 3-1 scorelines, while the Orange and Blue are 27-16 when playing the Wildcats in true road matches.

TOP-10 ROAD WIN

Illinois secured its first ranked victory of the season with a four-set road triumph at #10 Purdue on Sept. 28 in the team's first conference road match of the season.

In front of a hostile crowd at Mackey Arena, the Orange and Blue's victory marked their first triumph over a top-10 opponent since 2021, while the Illini improved to 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 2022.

Ashlyn Philpot collected 12 kills, including the final point of the afternoon to seal the victory. Hitting at a .429 clip, she also notched four blocks and accounted for the Illini's final three kills of the day. 

Alyssa Aguayo and Auburn Tomkinson also ended the afternoon with double-digit kills. Aguayo amassed 11 kills, five digs, four assists, and a block, while Tomkinson tallied 11 kills and added a career-high five blocks and a dig.

Taylor de Boer led the Illini in kills once again, finishing with 17. She also logged a block and a dig.

Defensively, Taryn Kirsch totaled a career-high 21 digs alongside her five assists, while Kenna Phelan posted her fourth double-double of the season with 39 assists and 10 digs.

DE BOER EARNS 2025 ATHLETESCAN TRUE SPORT AWARD

Illinois redshirt sophomore Taylor de Boer was recognized at the 2025 Canadian Sport Awards as this year's recipient of the AthletesCAN True Sport Award.

The True Sport Award recognizes an inspirational Canadian citizen who exemplifies true sport values of fairness, excellence, inclusion, and fun in a meaningful way. Through the pursuit of sporting excellence this Canadian hero showcases dedication, perseverance, sportsmanship, respect for others, and a true love of sport.

A native of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, de Boer was honored for her perseverance and resilience throughout her battle with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) vasculitis, a rare autoimmune disease that attacks the kidneys, joints, lungs, and other small vessels. Diagnosed prior to her first season with the Fighting Illini in 2023, de Boer had just returned from being a team captain for Canada's U19 team at the Pan American Cup.

Only 17 years old at the time of her diagnosis in the summer of 2023, she spent the next month in critical care at the OSF Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria. She used her time in the hospital to get involved with Uplifting Athletes, which raises awareness and funds for rare diseases. Continuing her work as she continued her treatment and recovery, she was tabbed a Rare Disease Champion by the organization.

Other finalists for this year's award included Eric Furtado-Rodrigues (Wheelchair Rugby) and Ruby Stevens (Para Swimming and Wheelchair Rugby).

PHELAN GOOD

Kenna Phelan was named the Big Ten Setter of the Week on Sept. 29 after leading the Fighting Illini to a 2-0 week with wins against [RV] Oregon and at #10 Purdue.

Phelan averaged 9.4 assists/set and 2.4 digs/set over the course of the two-match weekend, totaling 66 assists, 17 digs, two kills, two aces, and a block. She tallied 27 assists while making seven digs and tacking on an ace and a block in the Illini's against the Ducks. Two days later, in her first career Big Ten road match, Phelan recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 39 assists and 10 digs against the #10-ranked Boilermakers. She also added two kills and an ace as the Orange and Blue earned their first top-10 victory since 2021.

She became the first Illini to secure Big Ten Setter of the Week honors since Diana Brown during the 2021 season.

IMMEDIATE IMPACTS

Freshman Alyssa Aguayo averaged 2.82 kills, 3.30 points, 2.09 digs, and 0.39 blocks per set across her 56 sets of action while starting all 15 matches. Also totaling six double-doubles thus far, she became the first Illini true freshman with 10+ kills in their first six collegiate matches since 2016, when Jacqueline Quade also had 10+ kills in her first six matches.

Fellow freshman Taryn Kirsch has donned the libero jersey across the Illini's first 15 matches, marking the team's first freshman starter at the position since 2023. Kirsch leads the Illini in digs, averaging 3.16 digs/set, and set a career-high with 21 digs in the Illini's four-set win at #10 Purdue.

Auburn Tomkinson, a redshirt sophomore, has made an immediate impact at Illinois after transferring from Texas, where she spent her first two seasons but did not play. The California native has 10+ kills in six matches, including a career-high 17 kills at Maryland on Oct. 10.

Kenna Phelan stepped into the Illini's starting setter spot after playing her first two seasons at Florida State. She has logged four double-doubles, is averaging 9.75 assists/set, and has at least one block in 12 of Illinois' 15 matches despite standing at 5-foot-7.

FINE NINE

The Illinois volleyball team added nine newcomers for the 2025 season. Auburn Tomkinson, Taryn Kirsch, Devin Dzienny, Gabriella Pitcel, Kenna Phelan, Sophi Randall, Alyssa Aguayo, Ava Wysocki, and Lara Žigic all joined the roster during the offseason. Tomkinson and Phelan have previous collegiate experience, having played the last two seasons at Texas and Florida State, respectively. Dzienny was an early enrollee at Florida before making her way to Champaign.

OH, CANADA

Redshirt sophomore Taylor de Boer represented her home country of Canada at both the U23 NORCECA Pan American Cup and the Senior Pan American Cup in Mexico over the summer.

De Boer and Canada claimed the silver medal at the U23 NORCECA Pan American Cup. The U23 Canadian team, making its first-ever appearance in the Women's U23 Pan American Cup final, fell to the United States in the final. The team's second-place finish was Canada's best ever in the competition, and it also served as the squad's first-ever medal.

LAND OF LINCOLN

The Illini squad features four players from the state of Illinois. Bianca May (Orland Park), Averie Hernandez (Bloomington), Vivian Campbell (Oswego), and Ava Wysocki (Kildeer) all hail from the Land of Lincoln.

NEW FACES IN NEW PLACES

The Fighting Illini saw changes to head coach Chris Tamas' staff in 2025. Meredith Schamun and Hannah Hashbarger joined the team as the associate head coach and director of operations, respectively.

Schamun joins the Illini following a four-year head coaching stint at Penn, most recently guiding the Quakers to a successful 13-10 campaign with an 7-7 Ivy League record in 2024. The season included the Quakers' first win over rival Princeton since 2015 and their first victory over Brown since 2019. Following the season, a pair of Schamun's players received All-Ivy recognition.

Schamun came to Penn from Villanova, where she helped the Wildcats to a 39-23 record in two seasons as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Schamun assisted Villanova to a pair of Big East Tournament appearances and a combined 23-13 record in league play. In 2019, the Wildcats were 22-9 overall and 13-5 in the Big East. That year, she guided the Wildcat offense to finish second in the league in hitting percentage and trained Villanova's all-time assist leader.

Prior to arriving at Villanova, Schamun spent two seasons at Tulane as an assistant coach, helping the Green Wave to the highest RPI jump in the nation (157 spots) in 2016. Tulane had its first winning season in three years and finished fifth in the American Athletic Conference with Schamun on the sideline. From 2014-15, Schamun was the director of volleyball operations at UCF, helping organize travel, scheduling, and recruiting for the Knights, who won the conference title and reached the NCAA Championship field in 2014.

A highly decorated setter at Rice University, Schamun was a four-year starter for the Owls. The Conference USA Setter of the Year in 2009, Schamun was a Conference USA Championship MVP, two-time All-C-USA First Team, AVCA All-Region, and AVCA All-America honorable mention selection. She helped lead the Owls to a conference championship and two NCAA Championship berths, and finished her career as Rice's all-time leader in assists with 5,190.­

Hashbarger comes to Illinois following two seasons on the Regis volleyball staff, serving as the director of operations and engagement. As the program's director of operations and engagement, Hashbarger combined her expertise in brand marketing, leadership, and program management to support the team's success.

LOOKING BACK AT 2024

The Fighting Illini saw much success during the 2024 season, owning an 18-13 overall record and a 10-10 mark in Big Ten play. The team made its return to the NCAA Tournament, falling to Northern Iowa, 3-1, in the opening round.

A key loss from last year's squad is Raina Terry, who earned AVCA All-American status at the conclusion of the season. The program's all-time leader in kills, points, and aces, Terry earned AVCA Third Team distinction, the first of its kind for the Ohio native. Terry was drafted 11th overall to the Columbus Fury, becoming the first Illini player to be selected in the Pro Volleyball Federation draft.

Not to be outshined, Ashlyn Philpot returns to the Illini following a stellar freshman campaign in 2024. The middle blocker was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team at the conclusion of the regular season. Philpot tallied 10+ kills in four Big Ten matches in her debut season, including 17 kills in a five-set triumph over #20 USC. The following night, she recorded 11 kills while hitting .667 against Ohio State. Such marks accompanied with nine roofs on the weekend helped Philpot earn her first-ever Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor.

AS SEEN ON TV

The Illini will be featured on national television nine times this season. The team's road matches at Purdue, Wisconsin, and Minnesota will air on Big Ten Network. The Illini's home clashes against Iowa State and Penn State will also be shown on BTN. Contests at Nebraska and UCLA will be shown on FS1. The inaugural Broadway Block Party match against Vanderbilt aired on SEC Network, while Illinois battled #3 Louisville on the road on ESPN.

HEAD COACH CHRIS TAMAS AT THE HELM

The eighth head coach in Illinois history, Tamas has made an impressive impact on Illinois volleyball and owns an overall record of 159-99 (.616), including a 94-69 (.577) mark in the nation's toughest volleyball league, the Big Ten Conference, as well as five NCAA Tournament appearances, including three NCAA Regional appearances and a trip to the Final Four in 2018. 

Tamas 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 #7 seed Kentucky in Lexington. His 150th career victory came against Vanderbilt at the Sprouts Farmers Market Broadway Block Party on Aug. 31.

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 #3 overall seed in the tournament, riding a 17-match win streak into the Final Four and ending the season ranked #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 had multiple first-team honorees in a season.