Illini Stay In-State for Linda Herman Volleyball Classic at Illinois State

MATCHES 5-7

Illinois is set for its final nonconference road trip of the 2025 regular season this weekend, though the Fighting Illini will have to travel far. Remaining in the Land of Lincoln, the Orange and Blue will take part in Illinois State's Linda Herman Volleyball Classic from Sept. 12-14. The Illini will take on Cincinnati on Friday, Miami (Fla.) on Saturday, and the host Redbirds on Sunday.

LAST TIME OUT

The Illini once again split their last two matches during the second weekend of the 2025 season, prevailing in a five-set thriller at Notre Dame on Sept. 5 before falling in four sets at No. 3 Louisville on Sept. 7.

Taylor de Boer registered a new career-high kills output with 18 against the No. 3-ranked Cardinals, marking her fourth straight outing with double-digit kills. Alyssa Aguayo continued her hot start to her collegiate career, extending her 10+-kill streak to four with 10 kills against both Notre Dame and Louisville. She is the first Illini true freshman with 10+ kills in their four matches since Jacqueline Quade in 2016. Auburn Tomkinson posted a career-high 14 kills against Notre Dame, while Ashlyn Philpot equaled her career-best with 17 kills against the Fighting Irish.

Kenna Phelan tallied back-to-back double-doubles last weekend with 45 assists and 11 digs at Notre Dame and 38 assists and 16 digs at Louisville. Taryn Kirsch had back-to-back double-digit dig efforts with a career-most 17 digs against the Fighting Irish and 16 against the Cardinals.

OPPONENT SCOUT

Cincinnati enters the weekend with a four-match winning streak and a 5-1 record. After earning the 2025 Chattanooga Classic championship with wins over Ohio, Jacksonville State, and Alabama, the Bearcats swept Xavier in the Queen City Classic on Tuesday.

The Bearcats return 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from its 2024 team that finished 14-15, most notably its two leading point scorers in reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week outside hitter Sydney Nolan and fellow outside hitter Carly Glendinning. 

Cincinnati is led by Danijela Tomic, who is in her first year at Cincinnati though in her 13th season overall as a head coach. She is one win shy of 400 across her head coaching career.

Winners of its last five matches, Miami sits at 5-1 heading into the weekend. After dropping its season opener to Indiana, the Hurricanes have rattled off straight-set victories against Ohio State, Drake, North Texas, and UCF, and most recently defeated Ole Miss in five sets on Wednesday.

Currently receiving votes in this week's AVCA poll, Miami features just five returners from one season ago after bringing in five transfers and six freshmen. Senior outside hitter Flormarie Heredia Colon was named an AVCA All-American and an All-ACC First Team honoree and was joined by setter Ariana Rodriquez on the 2025 Preseason All-ACC team.

Miami is led by Jose "Keno" Gandara, who is in his 13th season at the helm of the Hurricane program and holds a 222-129 record heading into the weekend.

Illinois State is 4-2 ahead of its first home matches of 2025, highlighted by three consecutive sweeps of DePaul, Western Michigan, and Oakland en route to winning the Western Michigan Tournament to open its season. The Redbirds fell to Loyola and Iowa last week before bouncing back with a five-set triumph over Butler on Sept. 6. 

Senior Aida Shadewald, the team's kills leader in each of the last three seasons, and sophomore middle blocker Khenedi Guest were recognized on the Preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference team. The Redbirds were picked to finish third in the MVC preseason poll.

Sunday's hosts are led by fourth-year head coach Allie Matters, who is 45-54 during her time at the helm of the Redbird volleyball program.

SERIES HISTORY

Illinois holds a 10-3 edge in the all-time series with Cincinnati, with the Illini winners in each of the last five contests between the teams. The Orange and Blue secured a sweep when the sides met last season at Bowling Green. The Bearcats' most recent victory against the Illini came in 2010.

Saturday afternoon's match between Illinois and Miami will be the first in series history. This will mark the Illini's third match against an ACC opponent this season after the Orange and Blue faced Notre Dame on Sept. 5 and Louisville on Sept. 7.

The in-state showdown on Sunday is the 62nd meeting between Illinois and Illinois State, with the Redbirds holding a slim 31-30 advantage. The Illini have won the last two matches, including a 3-1 triumph at Huff Hall last season. This will be the fourth consecutive season in which the programs have played, with ISU's most recent victory coming in a five-set thriller on Sept. 17, 2022.

IMMEDIATE IMPACTS

Through the first four matches of the season, freshman Alyssa Aguayo has totaled 42 kills, 47 digs, nine assists, six blocks, and two aces. Also totaling three double-doubles thus far, she is the first true freshman with 10+ kills in her first four college matches since Jacqueline Quade in 2016 (who had 10+ kills in first 6 matches).

Fellow freshman Taryn Kirsch has donned the libero jersey across the Illini's first four matches, marking the team's first freshman starter at the position since Lily Barry in 2023. Kirsch leads the Illini in digs and has at least 16 in three of the team's first four matches.

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 two matches while starting each match thus far in her Illini career.

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.

SOUND THE ALARM

Kayla Burbage announced in January that she would be returning for the 2025 season. The Swiss-Army knife of the Illini squad, Burbage played two seasons with the Illini before missing the 2024 campaign due to injury. A transfer from Missouri, Burbage saw time as an opposite in all 30 matches for Illinois in 2022, averaging 2.28 kills and 0.60 blocks per set. The following year, Burbage posted 2.10 kills and 0.47 blocks per set while playing on both pins. 

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's 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 No. 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 151-96 (.611), including a 90-68 (.560) 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 No. 7 seed Kentucky in Lexington. His 150th career victory came against Vanderbilt at the Sprout's 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 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 had multiple first-team honorees in a season.