Illini volleyball was present in Chicago for the second annual in-person Big Ten volleyball media day, held at Big Ten network studios, with a pair of players and head coach Chris Tamas in attendance. The Illini presser and media availability was the last scheduled for the day, and last among the 14 schools in the conference.
Tamas spoke about the state of the program as well as his excitement for the upcoming season, which will be his seventh as Illini head coach.
Tamas additionally spoke of the expectations he has for his players, himself and his coaching staff. This staff was recently expanded to fully promote his wife, Jen Tamas, who is an assistant coach for the program after being a volunteered assistant for the past six years.
“Obviously we’ve been doing this for a long time, not just here at Illinois but in previous stops,” Tamas said. “Obviously, that role was expanded now to hiring a third assistant.”
Tamas added how beneficial it is and the timing of it being consequential to officially bring Jen Tamas on to the role.
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“All of our kids are kind of grown up, it’s really good timing that they’re all in school now,” Tamas said. “She’s got more time herself to be around the team, and being a mentor for the team is a big deal, she was the captain of the national team for nearly a decade and an Olympian.”
Tamas said the experience Jen brings will help mentor players even more. He then moved on to discuss the last few years and how the team is working to get back to the tournament berths they had in the first years of his tenure, as well as reflecting on last season.
“A couple of years ago, we were in the Sweet 16, defeating the defending national champions,” Tamas said. “A lot of people asked me last year if I was disappointed, but I wasn’t, because we had so many players in different positions.”
Tamas praised his team, talking about the pressure they went through and how they handled it well, despite surmounting injuries last year.
“I was impressed with how they went about it,” Tamas said. “You have to get through a season healthy, it’s really tough to do that, but we have to do our hardest to accomplish that, so our process doesn’t change for us really. It’s more along the lines of, hopefully, we can avoid some injuries from last year.”
Tamas proceeded to answer questions about the new players coming in, as well as his expectations for players like Mosher and Terry, who sat next to the seventh-year head coach at the podium.
“It’s always a team effort, we had a couple of players come in early to our team this year,” Tamas said. “It’s always hard to predict who’s going to do what because once the lights turn on, it’s difficult.”
Tamas fielded another question about the previous year and the number of five-setters they dropped, especially to ranked opponents.
“I tell the players, it’s hard to guarantee wins, but it’s better to be close than not there at all,” Tamas said. “To be in those five-setters, and within two points of victory but not win, it sucks. But, at the same time, you can not be talking about that if you’re not there in the first place.”
To finish off his time, Tamas once again praised his players for their heart last season, mentioning the love he has for his team, every year.
“I’m super proud of the way the team competed, and it’s why this year is going to be special,” Tamas said. “If that’s how it was with people out of position, what’s it going to be like when people are in their position doing what they’re recruited to do.”
Illinois’ season begins on Aug. 26 against Northern Illinois in DeKalb.
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