University of Illinois
McNeese State
Illinois Heads to Houston for Rice Invitational
September 4, 2026 | Volleyball
PREVIEW
| Matches 4+5 // Fighting Illini Fly to Houston for Rice Invitational | |
|---|---|
| Match 4: vs. McNeese State | Saturday, Sept. 5 | 1 p.m. CT | Houston, Texas | Radio | Live Stats |
| Match 5: at [RV] Rice | Sunday, Sept. 6 | 2 p.m. CT | Houston, Texas | ESPN+ | Radio | Live Stats |
| Rosters | Illinois | McNeese State | Rice |
| Printable Notes | Illinois |
| Series History |
McNeese State: First meeting Rice: Series tied, 1-1; Last Match: ILL won, 3-0, on 8/31/2007; Streak: W1 |
| Shop Illini Gear | Online Store |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois continues its nonconference schedule with the Rice Invitational in Houston on Sept. 5-6. The Fighting Illini will face McNeese State in a neutral-site clash on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT before playing the host Owls on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT. Only Sunday afternoon's match will be available to stream on ESPN+.
This weekend's matches will see Illinois associate head coach Meredith Schamun return to her alma mater, as she spent the 2007-10 seasons as an All-American and record-breaking setter at Rice.
LAST TIME OUT
Illinois fell in its Allstate Big Ten/SEC Volleyball Challenge Week contest to No. 22 Tennessee, 3-0, on the road on Tuesday night.
Paityn Chapman posted a team-high nine kills, while Talita Gonçalves totaled a team-most and season-best 12 digs.
Madi Miles tallied a career-high three kills and three digs.
OPPONENT SCOUT
McNeese State comes into the match at 0-4, falling to Miami (OH), Cal State Fullerton, Sam Houston, and Louisiana in straight sets to open the 2026 season.
The Cowgirls bring back ten players from a team last year that finished 8-20, including sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter Ava Henry. As a freshman, she started in all but two matches while leading the team in blocks with 51 and ranking third on the team with 220 kills. Through four matches this year, she is averaging 2.92 kills/set on a .403 clip to go along with eight blocks.
McNeese is led by first-year head coach Tayler Gray, who was previously an assistant at UT- Arlington and Sam Houston.
Rice enters the weekend with a 4-0 record, including wins over South Alabama, Georgia State, and Mississippi State at the Jaguar Classic and a midweek victory over Tarleton State.
Coming off a 21-10 campaign, capped by a 15-1 conference record and an American Athletic Conference title, the Owls were unanimously picked to win the league for a third consecutive season. Senior setter Kaia Mateo, sophomore outside hitter Aaliyah Smith, and senior middle blocker Arissa Smith were all named to the AAC Preseason All-Conference Team.
Following her All-AAC First Team season in 2025, Mateo is off to another good start with 10.0 assists/set to begin her senior season. Sophomore Sydnee Peterson leads the Owls with a team-high 3.65 kills/set, while senior middle blocker Stephanie Gutierrez has a team-best 1.47 blocks/set average.
Sunday's foe is led by Genny Volpe, who is now in her 23rd year at the helm for Rice. She comes in with a program-leading 438 wins and .659 winning percentage and has led the Owls to nine NCAA tournament appearances and six conference championships. A three-time conference coach of the year, Volpe was inducted into the Rice Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.
SERIES HISTORY
The Fighting Illini come into the match against Rice with a 1-1 all-time record against the Owls, with the away team taking both victories. The two sides last faced off on Aug. 31, 2007, when the Illini posted a 3-0 victory while in Houston. Rice won the first meeting between the programs in 2005.
Saturday's match against McNeese State marks the first-ever meeting between the Fighting Illini and the Cowgirls.
SCHAMUN RETURNS TO RICE
Illinois associate head coach Meredith Schamun will return to her alma mater, where she spent the 2007-10 seasons.
A highly decorated setter at Rice, 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 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.
ILLINOIS EARNS SWEEP OVER SYRACUSE
Illinois secured its first win of the 2026 season with a sweep against Syracuse on Aug. 30 at Huff Hall.
The Fighting Illini posted a .400 hitting percentage while allowing zero aces in their three-set victory over the Orange.
Paityn Chapman continued her strong start to her Illini career with 16 kills, eight digs, and three blocks while swinging at a .441 clip. Taylor de Boer tallied 13 kills of her own and added three digs and a block.
Alyssa Aguayo amassed double-digit digs for the first time in 2026, recording 10 digs, six kills, two blocks, and an ace. Talita Goncalves totaled five digs and eight assists, while Kenna Phelan finished just shy of a double-double with 29 assists, nine digs, and two aces.
True freshmen Maya Harris and Madi Miles both registered their first collegiate kills during the contest.
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 163-112 (.593), 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.
