Illinois volleyball announced its schedule for the first round of matches for the upcoming 2023 season on Monday afternoon via head coach Chris Tamas. The program enters its seventh season under Tamas with a record 115-67, and a 31-18 record against non-conference opponents since his arrival in 2017.

The Illini scheduled 10 opponents in order to prepare for what is undoubtedly going to be a grueling Big Ten schedule. The Big Ten had six teams in the most recent top-25 rankings as of December 2022, and one of the nonconference opponents for Illinois was the No. 26 ranked team.

Head coach Chris Tamas spoke about the strategy for scheduling nonconference games and specifically mentioned the locality of this year’s schedule. The Illini did not get to be at home last year for their nonconference schedule due to work in Huff Hall.

“Last year, we had the scoreboard going up and we didn’t want to mess with that,” Tamas said. “It doesn’t make sense to fly across the country and play two matches then come back and play two more. We’re fortunate to have quality opponents around us as well within an earshot of campus.”

Illinois’ nonconference schedule begins with a road trip to Northern Illinois University on Aug. 26 in DeKalb. From there, the Illini will return to iconic Huff Hall, their home since 1990 for their home opener against the Valparaiso Beacons on Aug. 29 before hosting a mini-tournament from Sept. 1 until Sept. 3 against two separate opponents. The Illini will face the Wichita State Shockers before wrapping up the small tournament against the Illinois State Redbirds.

The extended time in Illinois will continue again with a trip to Chicago, where the Illini will face one of their sister schools, the UIC Flames, on Sept. 5. This will begin their trip away from Champaign until conference play begins. Illinois will go to South Bend, Indiana, as it takes on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Oklahoma Sooners on back-to-back evenings from Sept. 7-8.

The final nonconference match in the state of Illinois will take place in Peoria, as the Bradley Braves will host their Central Illinois rivals. The last two nonconference matches will be in a familiar place against unfamiliar opponents.

Illinois will take on the Central Florida Golden Knights and future Big Ten rival Southern California Trojans. The matches will take place in West Lafayette, Indiana on Sept. 14-15, as the final preparations before Big Ten play which does not have a confirmed schedule at the moment.

Last season, Illinois went 5-5 in its nonconference schedule before playing 20 games against the volleyball powerhouse Big Ten, where it finished 10-10. The Illini are hoping to come back from an injury-riddled season in 2022 and get back to their winning ways in 2023 which will feature many new faces.

The Illini roster has undergone many changes following the departures of six players following the 2022 season via graduation, retirement and the transfer portal. However, the Illini will be returning multiple big names from their prior season, including redshirt sophomore setter Brooke Mosher, senior outside hitter Raina Terry, junior Caroline Barnes, junior Kayla Burbage and graduate middle blocker Kennedy Collins. Tamas spoke about the impact of having players returning.

“We graduated six (players) last year, some with ample playing time,” Tamas said. “Kennedy is returning for a COVID year and we’re happy to have her back. Raina has been a powerhouse for us, Brooke is going to move to the setter role and Kayla has another year under her belt and she didn’t have much time to train last year in that position.”

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