University of Illinois
Eastern Illinois
Fighting Illini Set for In-State Road Trip at Eastern Illinois
September 15, 2026 | Volleyball
PREVIEW
| Match 9 // Illinois Heads South for Road Match at Eastern Illinois | |
|---|---|
| Match 9 | Wednesday, Sept. 16 | 6 p.m. CT | Charleston, Ill. | ESPN+ | Radio | Live Stats |
| Rosters | Illinois | Eastern Illinois |
| Printable Notes | Illinois |
| Series History |
Eastern Illinois: ILL leads, 21-4; Last Match: ILL won, 3-0, on 9/21/2025; Streak: W12 |
| Shop Illini Gear | Online Store |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois enters the final week of nonconference play with an in-state road matchup against Eastern Illinois. The contest in Charleston, Ill., is set for Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT, with the match slated to stream on ESPN+.
The Fighting Illini will make the trip with a 5-3 record through the first three weeks of the 2026 season.
LAST TIME OUT
Illinois secured a hard-fought five-set win over Marquette on Sunday afternoon at Huff Hall.
With five players finishing with double-digit kills, the Fighting Illini used a 7-0 run late in the fifth set to turn a four-point deficit into a three-point lead, helping the hosts improve to 5-3 on the season.
Paityn Chapman posted her third double-double of the season with 16 kills and a career-high 17 digs. She also added a career-best four aces, three blocks, and two assists.
Ashlyn Philpot filled the stat sheet with 13 kills, nine blocks, and five digs while swinging at a .423 clip.
Alyssa Aguayo amassed 16 kills, nine digs, and a career-high six blocks. Taylor de Boer tallied 14 kills, four digs, and a block, while Kristina Starostenko collected a career-best 11 kills and three blocks.
Defensively, Talita Goncalves totaled a career-high 26 digs along with four assists, while Kenna Phelan's final stat line included a double-double with 56 assists, 11 digs, three kills, and two blocks. Maya Harris had 14 digs and an ace.
As a team, the Orange and Blue swung at a .308 clip while registering several season-highs, including 73 kills, 86 digs, and 12.0 blocks.
OPPONENT SCOUT
Eastern Illinois comes into the match 1-7 on the season. After a win in five sets to open the season vs Santa Clara, the Panthers have dropped seven consecutive matches. They were swept by #24 BYU and most recently in Bloomington by #21 Indiana.
After finishing last year 24-8, the Panthers come back with an almost entirely new look in 2026. They return only four players who logged action and welcome 10 newcomers, including six freshmen. Among the returners is 2025 First Team All-OVC Katie Kopshever. She is a focal point of the attack once again with a team-high 3.59 kills/set coming into Wednesday's match.
Looking at the newcomers, freshman Emma Hanson has quickly found her role with a team-high 23.0 blocks, while also picking up 26 kills with one of the highest clips on the team at .210.
The Panthers are led by second-year head coach Ryan Millar, a U.S. gold medalist who played three times on the Olympic Team and is considered one of the greatest middle blockers the USA has ever produced. In his first season, Millar won OVC Coach of the Year and had five All-OVC selections and the OVC Setter of the Year, which all led to EIU being the Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament champions.
SERIES HISTORY
Wednesday's match will be the 26th all-time meeting between the Panthers and the Fighting Illini. The Orange and Blue have won the last 12 matches against the Panthers and are 8-1 when playing in Charleston, with Illinois holding a 21-4 advantage overall.
ILLINI RECORD RESOUNDING ROAD WIN AT RICE
Illinois closed its weekend in Houston with a resounding road sweep over Rice at Tudor Fieldhouse on Sept. 6.
The Fighting Illini hit .494 as a team, their most efficient percentage since 2018, while securing their second sweep in as many days. Illinois' .494 hitting percentage ranked fourth in the nation at the time.
Kristina Starostenko equaled her career-high of 10 kills while swinging at an error-free .714 and adding a team-most four blocks. Paityn Chapman continued her strong start to the season and led the way with 16 kills, three digs, and a block.
Taylor de Boer collected nine kills and two digs, while Alyssa Aguayo filled the stat sheet with eight kills, six digs, and two blocks.
Defensively, Talita Goncalves tallied a team-best 13 digs and added four assists, while Kenna Phelan finished with 38 assists, eight digs, two aces, and a block.
NEW TO THE ORANGE AND BLUE
The Fighting Illini squad brought in six new student-athletes to the squad ahead of the 2026 season, including three from the transfer portal. Junior opposite Paityn Chapman joined the team from Tennessee in January, while fifth-year middle blocker Lindsay Oldendorf returned to her home state after spending her first four seasons at San Francisco and Northern Iowa. Sophomore libero/defensive specialist Talita Goncalves signed with the Illini in May after playing at San José State as a freshman.
Kristina Starostenko, a junior middle blocker from Ukraine, enters her first year at Illinois, while a pair of freshmen outside hitters from Indiana – Maya Harris and Madi Miles – are set for their first collegiate campaigns in Champaign.
MEREDITH SCHAMUN RETURNS TO RICE
Illinois associate head coach Meredith Schamun returned to her alma mater, Rice, during Illinois' matches at the Rice Invitational I from Sept. 5-6.
A highly decorated setter at Rice, Schamun was a four-year starter for the Owls from 2007-10. The Conference USA Setter of the Year in 2009, Schamun was a Conference USA Championship MVP and a 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 Tournament berths and finished her career as Rice's leader in career assists with 5,190.
TAMAS EXTENDS CONTRACT THROUGH 2028 SEASON
Illinois volleyball head coach Chris Tamas has signed a contract extension that will run through the 2028-29 academic year, which was announced on Aug. 1.
Tamas enters his 10th campaign as head coach of the Fighting Illini volleyball program in 2026 after being named to the position in February 2017. Across his first nine seasons at the helm of the program, Tamas owns an overall record of 167-113 (.596), including a 98-80 (.551) mark in the nation's toughest volleyball league, the Big Ten Conference. He also has guided the Fighting Illini to five NCAA Tournament appearances, including three NCAA Regional appearances and a trip to the Final Four in 2018, while he has led the Orange and Blue to 10+ conference wins in seven of his nine seasons thus far.
Tamas earned his 150th career head coaching win when the Illini defeated Vanderbilt at the Sprouts Farmers Market Broadway Block Party on Aug. 31, 2025. Illinois' ranked road win on Sept. 28, 2025, at No. 10 Purdue marked the program's highest-ranked road victory since 2021.
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 – 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.
2025 IN REVIEW
The 2025 season saw the Fighting Illini compete in their ninth campaign under the direction of head coach Chris Tamas. Illinois finished the year with a 13-16 record, including an 8-12 mark in Big Ten play.
Following the regular season, Taylor de Boer and Kenna Phelan were selected to the All-Big Ten Second Team, and Alyssa Aguayo was named to the All-Freshman Team. De Boer and Ashlyn Philpot earned spots on the AVCA All-Midwest Region First Team, while Phelan claimed Honorable Mention status.
Illinois picked up its first win of the season at the inaugural Sprouts Farmers Market Broadway Block Party, with the Illini's 3-1 victory over Vanderbilt helping Tamas secure his 150th triumph at the helm of the program. The Orange and Blue ultimately went 5-4 during nonconference play, which included true road wins over Notre Dame and Illinois State.
The Illini began Big Ten play on a positive note, going 7-1 across their first eight contests. Illinois started conference competition with a sweep over Oregon before tallying its best win over the season in a 3-1 road win at #10 Purdue. The match, played at Mackey Arena, marked the program's first victory over a top-10 opponent since 2021, while the Illini started 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 2022.
After dropping a hard-fought road loss to #7 Wisconsin, Illinois rattled off five consecutive wins to move to 7-1 in Big Ten play. Four of those victories came on the road (Maryland, Rutgers, Ohio State, and Northwestern) along with a five-set home victory over Michigan State.
The Illini played in front of a sellout crowd on Nov. 2 against Iowa before hosting the Huff Hall Centennial Celebration vs. #25 Penn State on Nov. 9.
ILLINI SET ATTENDANCE RECORD IN 2025
The Illini recorded the highest average home attendance in program history in 2025, averaging a program-best 3,238 fans at Huff Hall across 12 home contests.
Illinois hosted a sellout against Iowa on Nov. 2, 2025, while seven matches featured an attendance of over 3,000.
LAND OF LINCOLN
The Illini squad features three players from the
state of Illinois. Vivian Campbell (Oswego), Lindsay Oldendorf (Homer Glen), and Ava Wysocki (Kildeer) all hail from the Land of Lincoln.
ORANGE AND BLUE ON NATIONAL TV
Illinois is slated for eight nationally televised regular-season matches, including six on Big Ten Network, one on FS1, and one on SEC Network.
The Fighting Illini's nonconference matches at Tennessee (Sept. 1; SEC Network) and Marquette (Sept. 11; FS1) mark the team's first televised contests of the season.
The Orange and Blue will battle Oregon (Oct. 4) and Purdue (Oct. 11) on the road on Big Ten Network. Four home matches at Huff Hall will also feature on BTN: Wisconsin (Oct. 8), Michigan State (Oct. 15), Northwestern (Oct. 29), and Ohio State (Nov. 1).
BIG TEN TOURNAMENT SET TO DEBUT IN 2026
The Big Ten Conference will usher in a new era of collegiate volleyball this fall with the launch of its inaugural tournament Nov. 20-25, 2026, at Fishers Event Center, home of Major League Volleyball's Indy Ignite.
The top 15 teams in the regular-season standings will qualify for the tournament, bringing the nation's premier volleyball programs together in one venue for the first time.
Three matches will be played in the opening round of the tournament, followed by four second-round matches. The competition will then progress through the quarterfinals and semifinals, culminating with the championship match slated for November 25. One off day will be built into the tournament schedule.
The Big Ten regular-season schedule will decrease from 20 to 17 matches, in a single, round-robin format to account for the tournament.
