University of Illinois
Arkansas
Fighting Illini Close Nonconference Slate at Arkansas State Invitational
September 17, 2026 | Volleyball
PREVIEW
| Matches 10+11 // Illinois Wraps Up Nonconference Play in Arkansas | |
|---|---|
| Match 10 | Saturday, Sept. 19 | 2 p.m. CT | Jonesboro, Ark. | Radio | Live Stats |
| Match 11 | Sunday, Sept. 20 | 1 p.m. CT | Jonesboro, Ark. | ESPN+ | Radio | Live Stats |
| Rosters | Illinois | Arkansas | Arkansas State |
| Printable Notes | Illinois |
| Series History |
Arkansas: ILL leads, 3-1; Last Match: ILL won, 3-0, on 8/26/2016; Streak: W2 |
| Shop Illini Gear | Online Store |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Winners of five of its last six matches, Illinois wraps up its nonconference schedule with a road trip to Arkansas State, with Illinois set to take on Arkansas on Saturday afternoon and the host Red Wolves on Sunday.
The Fighting Illini will make the trip with a 6-3 record ahead of the start of Big Ten play next week.
LAST TIME OUT
The Fighting Illini battled to a four-set road win over Eastern Illinois on Wednesday night.
Paityn Chapman collected a season-high 18 kills, seven digs, two aces, and a block while swinging at a .350 clip. Alyssa Aguayo amassed 11 kills, seven digs, and two solo stuffs with a .333 hitting percentage.
Taylor de Boer totaled 10 kills and two blocks at an efficient .444 mark. Junior middle blockers Ashlyn Philpot and Kristina Starostenko each added eight kills.
Talita Goncalves tallied a team-best 17 digs, while Kenna Phelan finished with a double-double with 43 assists, 10 digs, two blocks, and a kill while guiding the Orange and Blue to a .362 hitting percentage as a team.
OPPONENT SCOUT
The Razorbacks will carry a 7-2 record into the Arkansas State Invitational on Friday. Dropping just one set in three matches at the Towson Invitational, Arkansas is now on a four-match winning streak. Arkansas is 1-2 against power conference opponents this season, winning just one set against two Big Ten foes in Rutgers and Maryland. The Razorbacks defeated Syracuse on the road on Sept. 9 in the ACC/SEC Volleyball Challenge.
Arkansas brings back 10 players from its 2025 squad that went 5-22 last season. After playing in every match and leading the team in kills as a freshman, outside hitter Parker Duncan leads the Razorbacks in kills, hitting at a .236 clip this season. Junior setter Kiki Remensperger also returns after leading the team in assists, digs, aces, and double-doubles. Remensperger has 10.14 assists/set this year, which is nearly two more than what she averaged a year ago.
The Razorbacks are led by Jason Watson, who is in his 11th season at the head of the program. He has a 161-138 career record at Arkansas, and he took the Razorbacks to the Elite Eight during their last tournament appearance in 2023.
Arkansas State comes into the weekend with a 4-5 record, having dropped both its previous power conference matches to #8 Texas A&M and Missouri. In its most recent match, this weekend's tournament hosts were swept by Florida Gulf Coast.
The Red Wolves are coming off a 22-9 season, in which they won the Sun Belt Tournament and before falling in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in five sets to Baylor. Senior and Preseason Sun Belt Setter of the Year Erin Madigan leads the team into the weekend with 7.45 assists/set while also having 2.33 digs/set. Coming off back-to-back All-Sun Belt selections, senior Kaitlin Whitlock is looking to put together another good season as she currently leads the team with 98 kills while playing in all 33 sets this season.
Brian Gerwig is now in his fifth season leading the Red Wolves. The 2024 Sun Belt Coach of the Year has a 79-57 record at Arkansas State and helped the Red Wolves snapped a decade-long NCAA Tournament drought when leading them to the national competition in 2025.
SERIES HISTORY
Illinois is 3-1 in its history against Arkansas. The two sides last faced off in 2016, when the Illini swept the Razorbacks in Champaign. Saturday will be the first neutral match between Illinois and Arkansas.
The Orange and Blue will enter Sunday with a 2-0 lead in the all-time series against the Red Wolves. In their last meeting, the Illini swept Arkansas State at home during the 2002 season. Illinois has not dropped a set in either of its previous matches ahead of its first-ever trip to Jonesboro.
ILLINOIS EARNS FIVE-SET WIN OVER MARQUETTE
Illinois secured a hard-fought five-set win over Marquette on Sept. 13 at Huff Hall.
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.
Illinois recorded 73 kills, its most in a match since 2019, and 86 digs, its most since 2021. Five players finished with double-digit kills, while Talita Gonçalves accounted for 26 digs, the most by an Illini since 2024.
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.
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.
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.
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 168-113 (.598), 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.
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.
