Illinois Hits Road To Take On Michigan State, Michigan

ILLINOIS VS. THE FIELD

The Fighting Illini volleyball team heads back on the road this weekend, traveling to the Mitten State to take on Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich., on Friday (November 10) at 5:30 p.m. CT, before facing Michigan for the second time in an eight-day span on Saturday (November 11) at 6 p.m., in Ann Arbor.

The Illini lead the all-time series against both Michigan schools, holding a 49-26 advantage against MSU after splitting with the Spartans in both meetings a season ago.

The Illini are 49-23 against the Wolverines after earning a five-set victory in dramatic fashion on Saturday night.

LAST TIME OUT

The Illinois volleyball team put together a gutsy team performance led by outstanding play from its upperclassmen in a thrilling five-set (25-18, 25-21, 22-25, 19-25, 17-15) victory over Michigan on Saturday night in Huff Hall.

Redshirt-sophomore Beth Prince, senior Brandi Donnelly and junior Jordyn Poulter were key in the victory for the Illini, who improve to 18-7 and 9-5 in the Big Ten. Prince paced all players with a career-high 26 kills, while Donnelly also turned in a career- and match-high 27 digs in the win. Poulter added her 18th career double-double and eight this season with 50 assists, 14 digs and team-high six blocks.

Sophomore Jacqueline Quade and freshman Megan Cooney joined Prince in double figures with 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while freshman Tyanna Omazic also notched a team-high six blocks on the night.

As a team, the Illini registered a .254 hitting percentage and outblocked the Wolverines, 12 to seven.

DONNELLY & POULTER EARN B1G WEEKLY HONORS

Following wins over Northwestern and Michigan over the past week, the Illinois volleyball team had a pair of Illini earn Big Ten Conference weekly honors as senior Brandi Donnelly and junior Jordyn Poulter were named Co-Defensive Player and Setter of the Week, respectively, the conference announced on Monday (November 6).

After being sidelined with an injury for almost a month, Donnelly returned to the court in impressive fashion after totaling 41 digs for a 5.12 digs per set average, while also adding 10 assists and an ace on the week. The Williamsville, Ill., native had just one reception error in 67 opportunities, including converting all 48 opportunities in Saturday’s intense five-set victory over the Wolverines. She led all players in digs in both matches with 14 against the Wildcats, before turning in a career-high 27 against Michigan.

Poulter directed the Illini offense with 81 assists in two matches for a 10.12 assist per set average as the Orange and Blue posted a .287 team hitting percentage on the week. She also recorded the second-most digs (21) and blocks (10) on the team to average 2.62 digs and 1.25 stuffs per set, while adding five kills on a .222 hitting percentage in the two wins.

The Aurora, Colo., native opened the week with 31 assists en route to leading the Illini to a .348 team hitting percentage against NU, while also posting seven digs and four blocks in the win. She followed that up with her 18th career double-double and eight of the season with 50 assists, 14 digs and a team-high six blocks against the Wolverines as the Illini hit .254 as a team.

OMAZIC COMING ON STRONG

Freshman Tyanna Omazic has started to come into her own as of late, starting the last four matches and is third on the team with 41 kills in the last five matches for a 2.05 kills per set average. In that span, the middle blocker has also led the Illini with a .402 hitting percentage and 28 total blocks for a 1.40 stuffs per set clip.

She recently posted a career-high 11 kills on a .714 hitting percentage and a team-high six blocks in a win over Northwestern on November 1.

Prior to the Illini’s win over the Wildcats, Omazic totaled a then-career-high 10 kills in a five-set thriller at No. 5 Minnesota on October 25, while also equaling a career-high nine blocks on the night.

ILLINI IN THE POLLS

In the most recent NCAA volleyball RPI, the Fighting Illini volleyball team held strong in the top 25 and sit at No. 23 in the newest rankings.

After debuting at No. 24 in the season’s first RPI on October 2, the Illini reached their season-high of No. 19 on October 16.

The Illini have also appeared in the receiving votes section of the AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll for 10-straight weeks after entering the rankings on September 4.

ILLINI IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS

The Illini continued their strong blocking game and rank ninth in the NCAA and first in the Big Ten in blocks per set at a 2.96 clip as well as 13th in hitting percentage (.282) and 23rd in total blocks (263.5).

Individually, junior Ali Bastianelli ranks third in the nation with 1.66 blocks per set, ninth with 143 total blocks and is 29th with a .394 hitting percentage.

Junior Jordyn Poulter also ranks 32nd with a 10.93 assists per set average and is 76th with 973 total helpers, while senior Brandi Donnelly sits 124th with 4.33 digs per set nationally.

ILLINI FACING OFF AGAINST TOP FOES IN 2017

The Fighting Illini volleyball consistently plays a demanding schedule year in and year out, and 2017 is no different as Illinois has played the 20th-most difficult schedule this season.

This season, the Illini have taken on eight teams that appear in this week’s AVCA Top 25 poll – including six in the top 10 – in No. 1 Penn State, No. 2 Stanford, No. 5 Minnesota, No. 6 Nebraska, No. 8 Michigan State No. 10 Wisconsin, No. 21 Purdue and No. 25 Colorado, while also taking on two teams that are receiving votes in Western Kentucky and Missouri State.

The Illini own the 23rd-toughest schedule in the NCAA moving forward with future foes, while between past and future opposition, Illinois holds the 14th-toughest schedule in the NCAA.

SUPER SENIOR BRANDI DONNELLY

In her time in the Orange and Blue, senior Brandi Donnelly has made a place for herself in the Illini record books. Donnelly currently sits third in career digs with 1,868, just 53 off of Ashley Edinger’s (2006-09) second place mark of 1,921. Jennifer Beltran (2010-13) holds the record with 2,220 digs in her four years.

One of the most durable Illini to ever suit up, Donnelly had started in all 115 matches the Illini had played in until being sidelined with an injury on October 6 against Purdue. She returned to action on November 1 against Northwestern and led the Illini with 14 digs in her first match back at libero.

In her four years, Donnelly has seen action in 423 of 425 sets she has suited up for, missing only two sets during her freshman campaign. The only matches Donnelly has not seen action in are this season’s seven matches when she was out with injury.

POULTER REACHES 3,000 CAREER ASSISTS

The quarterback of the Illini offense since she arrived on campus in 2015, junior Jordyn Poulter entered the top 10 in career assists earlier this season and with 52 helpers in a win over Iowa on October 20 became just the eighth player to reach 3,000 assists in program history.

She currently ranks eighth all-time with 3,251 helpers, with  Betsy Eiserman (1999-02), who owns 3,578 assists and ranks in seventh place, next in Poulter’s path. Melissa Beitz (1996-99) ranks first in program history with 5,797 assists from 1996-99.

BLOCKIN’ BASTIANELLI IN THE RECORD BOOKS

In just three seasons, junior Ali Bastianelli has etched her named in the Illini record books and with eight blocks against No. 5 Minnesota on October 25, the Marysville, Mich., native became just the sixth player in program history to reach 500 career total blocks. She currently sits sixth with her 511 stuffs and is just 11 blocks to enter in a tie for fifth with Nancy Brookhart (1986-89), while player and director of operations Johannah Bangert owns the program record with 653 blocks from 2007-10.

Bastianelli has also entered the top 10 for career blocks assists this season and currently sits in third place with 467. Anna Dorn (2010-14) sits 63 block assists away in second place with 530, while Bangert also holds the career record for block assists at 613.

POULTER & QUADE DOUBLE UP

Together junior Jordyn Poulter and sophomore Jacqueline Quade own all 10 of the Illini’s double-doubles this season, with the setter turning in eight and the outside hitter registering two on the season, with the duo each posting double-doubles against Missouri State (Sept. 16) and No. 5 Minnesota (Oct. 25).

In her three seasons in Champaign, Poulter has totaled 18 career double-doubles, while Quade has tallied three in her two years in the Orange and Blue.

Along with the double-doubles, Poulter has come close to notching the program’s 13th triple-double on multiple occasions, first coming within three blocks of the mark with 47 assists, 12 digs and seven blocks – all match-highs – in a win over Indiana on October 7.

She also turned in one of her best performances of the season against No. 7 Nebraska and was just two blocks shy with 52 assists, 14 digs and eight blocks in the match.

TAMAS NAMED EIGHTH VOLLEYBALL HEAD COACH

Following the departure of former head coach Kevin Hambly to Stanford in January, Director of Athletes Josh Whitman selected Chris Tamas as the new head coach of the Fighting Illini volleyball program on February 10, 2017.  He is the eighth head coach in the history of the program.

Tamas came to Illinois following many years learning from some of the game’s great coaches, including John Cook at Nebraska and former U.S. National Team coaches Hugh McCutcheon and Ron Larsen. In all, Tamas is in his ninth year of collegiate coaching including two years at Nebraska, two years at Cal Poly, two years at Minnesota and two years at UC-Riverside.

Tamas is a 2003 graduate of the University of the Pacific with a degree in sports sciences. He was a four-year starter for the Tigers and a unanimous AVCA All-American first team selection and team MVP during his 2003 senior season. In four years with the U.S. Men’s National Team (1999, 2003, 2005-06), Tamas made 34 appearances, and, in 1999, helped the squad to a silver medal at the World Junior Championships in Havana. As national team captain in 2003, Tamas helped lead the United State to a bronze medal at the World University Games in Daegu, South Korea.

A training camp invitee for the U.S. squad that eventually captured the 2008 Olympic gold medal, Tamas also helped U.S. teams to silver at the 2005 World Grand Champions Cup in Japan and, as a setter, to a gold at the 2006 NORCECA Championships in Mexicali, Mexico.

As a professional, Tamas competed for six years overseas with clubs Protect Eye Orion (Netherlands), Antigos Alunos (Portugal), Real Grupo (Spain), Erdemir (Turkey), Dionysos (Cyprus) and Isku (Finland). In Finland and Cyprus, Tamas helped his clubs to national cup championships.