Illini Make Midweek Road Trip to #20 Minnesota

MATCH 20

The Fighting Illini enter the second half of Big Ten play with a 7-3 record ahead of their midweek road trip to #20 Minnesota on Wednesday. First serve between the Orange and Blue and the Golden Gophers is set for 7 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.

LAST TIME OUT

Illinois fell to Michigan in straight sets on Saturday night at Huff Hall.

Taylor de Boer continued her strong run of form with a team-leading 17 kills. Now posting double-digit kills in each of the Illini's 10 Big Ten matches, de Boer also made one block.

Alyssa Aguayo totaled 15 kills on a career-best .462 hitting percentage. She also added eight digs, two aces, and an assist.

Ashlyn Philpot amassed six kills, two blocks, a dig, and an assist, while Kenna Phelan collected 35 assists, seven digs, two aces, two kills, and a block.

Taryn Kirsch led the way defensively with 14 kills while tacking on four assists.

OPPONENT SCOUT

Minnesota comes into Wednesday's contest with  a record of 16-5, with the Golden Gophers holding a 6-4 mark in conference play. Minnesota has posted Big Ten wins over Michigan State, Rutgers, Northwestern, Ohio State, Washington, and then-#23 Indiana. The ranked Golden Gophers come into Wednesday's match with a home record of 9-1, with the lone loss coming in straight sets at the hands of UCLA on Oct. 8. 

Minnesota brought back nine players from a season ago while also reloading via the transfer portal and its 2025 recruiting class. Senior Julia Hanson is a key piece for this Minnesota team with a team-high 271 kills after she accumulated 473 kills in 2024. 

Minnesota started off its season by winning 12 out of its first 13 games, with the only loss coming to #9 Texas A&M. The Golden Gophers, who have dealt with injuries all season long, have gone 3-3 across their last six matches.

Minnesota is led by Keegan Cook, who has been with the Golden Gophers for three seasons as head coach. In 2024, Cook led the Gophers to a 21-11 (13-7 Big Ten) record, a four-win improvement from the year prior. Cook spent eight seasons at the helm of the University of Washington program, where he led the Huskies to four Pac-12 Championships.  

SERIES HISTORY

Heading into the 87th all-time meeting between Illinois and Minnesota, Minnesota holds a 46-39-1 record against the Fighting Illini since the series began back in 1976. Minnesota has won 10 straight matchups between the sides. Illinois seeks its first win over Minnesota since Nov. 18, 2017, and its first road win over the Golden Gophers since Sept. 23, 2011.

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 WINS 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 in 2021.

IMMEDIATE IMPACTS

Freshman Alyssa Aguayo averaged 2.90 kills, 3.38 points, 2.10 digs, and 0.42 blocks per set across her 69 sets of action while starting all 19 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 19 matches, marking the team's first freshman starter at the position since 2023. Kirsch leads the Illini in digs, averaging 3.14 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 five double-doubles, is averaging 9.90 assists/set, and has at least one block in 14 of Illinois' 19 matches despite standing at 5-foot-7. With her 43 assists and 21 digs at Ohio State, Phelan became the first Illini with a 40-assist, 20-dig double-double since 2017.

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 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.

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 161-101 (.615), including a 97-71 (.577) mark in the nation's toughest volleyball league, the Big Ten, 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 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.