For the first time in history, members of Team USA women’s volleyball left the Olympics with gold medals around their necks. 

Not just this, though. Three former Illini volleyball standouts stood on the podium as “The Star-Spangled Banner” blared over the speakers: Jordyn Poulter, Michelle Bartsch-Hackley and Erin Virtue.

The trio was honored at Huff Hall on Friday, along with the 2011 Illini volleyball team that advanced all the way to the NCAA national championship match, before being recognized at halftime at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

“Obviously so excited to be back here and celebrate this with Bartsch, and the 2011 team is a large part of why I wanted to come to Illinois originally,” Poulter said. “It’s awesome to have this all come full circle.”

Originally scheduled for the summer of 2020, the Olympics were postponed one year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, something Virtue, an assistant coach at the Games, attributes to the team’s success.

“This group, I think honestly as much as no one really wanted to go through a COVID year, it really strengthened our group,” Virtue said. “Having a fifth year really strengthened the group; they worked a lot together, they worked a lot with our consulting coaches on board to really come together as a team. We knew that going into this Olympic Games it was going to be so much more than just about what we did on the court but what we did together on the court. It just showed; I’m really proud of the whole team.”

The United States went 7-1 in Tokyo, falling to only the Russian Olympic Committee during group play. After earning the top seed in its pool, Team USA didn’t lose a single set during the knockout stage, ultimately beating Brazil, 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-14), in the gold medal match. 

Though none of the three Illinois gold medalists played in Champaign at the same time, they have all known each other for a long time.

Poulter, the youngest of the three, graduated in 2018, though she has known Bartsch-Hackley since she was 12 after attending a volleyball camp in Champaign during middle school, while Virtue coached her at both the youth and junior national team levels.

“To just have these people who have been very influential in my life, to finally achieve something this monumental with them has been really special,” Poulter said.

Poulter attended Illinois from 2015 to 2018, earning All-American accolades in each of her final three seasons, including first-team honors as a senior, the same season she guided the Illini to the NCAA Final Four.​​ She also earned Big Ten Co-Setter of the Year, All-Big Ten and AVCA Northeast Region Player of the Year awards throughout her time in Champaign. She was named Best Setter at the Olympics.

Bartsch-Hackley played for the Illini from 2008 to 2011 and received All-America honors three times, including third-team nods during her junior and senior years. She was also honored at Friday’s match as a member of the 2011 team and was named Co-Best Outside Hitter of the Olympics.

While two of the team’s 12-person roster attended Illinois, two-thirds of the squad players went to a Big Ten school, something that caused a bit of fun banter in the gym.

“It’s fun to just joke around and talk trash against other teams, but in the end, we’re all playing for USA now,” Bartsch-Hackley said. “It is fun to I-L-L across the gym sometimes.”

Virtue, who has been with Team USA in a coaching role since 2017, competed at Illinois from 2001 to 2004 and was a one-time All-America and All-Big Ten selection.

“It’s cool to see the tradition carry on,” Virtue said of having three Illinois gold medalists from three different eras. “Just to see over time how this program has done such incredible things; it just makes me really, really proud.”

Having Olympians and successful former Illini also put slightly more pressure on the current Illinois squad as they competed in the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge in Champaign last weekend, though they used it as a learning opportunity.

“It just motivates everybody,” middle blocker Kennedy Collins said. “They’ve done great things here and obviously in Tokyo, so just seeing them accomplish those things is a big motivator for everybody.”

The return of fans in Huff Hall for the first time since 2019, along with the added pressure from Olympians in the building, made things difficult for the Illini after playing in empty gyms for the last year, though the Games were played entirely without fans, making the return to the United States an emotional one for the trio after securing gold.

“I don’t know that (my friends and family have) ever been more proud of me in my life, which is understandable, and it’s cool to share that with them,” Poulter said. “The reunion at the airport when I came home was for sure very emotional; it’s really special.”

With the Paris Olympics now less than three years away, Bartsch-Hackley and Poulter don’t know what their futures hold.

Bartsch-Hackley doesn’t know when she will retire, though ending on a high note with some silverware is something she wouldn’t mind doing.

“To win gold and then not do it again; I feel satisfied,” Bartsch-Hackley said.

After winning the first gold medal in USA women’s volleyball since the sport was added to the Games in 1964, Poulter says this team’s win was for all the teams and players that came before them.

“Every one of us have been chasing history, chasing that gold and to finally do it, we stand on the shoulders of those women,” Poulter said. “And it’s so cool to share this with them.”

@JacksonJanes3

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