For three years in a row, Illinois volleyball has put together lackluster regular seasons and placed seventh of 14 in the Big Ten. To add insult to injury, the Illini have played much better than the seventh-best Big Ten team when the postseason rolled around in each of these past three years. Exceeding expectations at the end is an incredibly rare and impressive trait, but when regular season records are consistently resulting in inherent disadvantages, there is only so much that can be done.

Fortunately, this message is clear to head coach Chris Tamas, who brought Illinois its fourth-ever Final Four appearance and a second-place Big Ten finish just five years ago. But Tamas and the Illini have been chasing the success of that magical season ever since but unfortunately to little avail. 

This year, the Illini have six new faces and three redshirt freshmen looking to make an impact on the court. Of the five who just started calling Champaign home, four are true freshmen while the remaining two are graduate transfer student Vanessa Pan and newcomer Maddie Llewellyn. 

To prepare for the regular season, Illinois hosted Eastern Illinois on for an exhibition match just over a week ago. Things started off well, the Illini took the first set 25-19, but their in-state opponents got the best of them from there. Illinois suffered a 25-23 loss in the second set, before the lead officially slipped away after the third set. Illinois had two set-point opportunities in the third set, but ultimately were unable to capitalize and fell 29-27. 

Eastern Illinois closed out the match by winning another set for an overall victory of 3-1. While it is easy to be alarmed by a loss to a midmajor, in-state opponent, this match will hopefully serve as a building block for the start of Illinois’ actual season. 

This Saturday, the Illini will be on the road for their season opener against Northern Illinois, seemingly unable to shake the plethora of Illinois schools with directional prefixes. The visitors own the season series by a long shot, winning 17 of the programs’ 21 meetings on top of being in the midst of a 10-game win streak against the Huskies. However, the two have not met since September of 2005, so the historical precedent may not mean much in the present. 

Early season, nonconference games are as good a time as ever to test the waters with players who have yet to define a role for the team, but considering the outcome of Illinois’ exhibition match the typical starters may get the nod ensure a win. On top of earning a win in the present, Illinois will be looking to set the tone for the entire regular season. 

Illinois volleyball begins its 2023 season this Saturday at 5 p.m. CT, looking to get off on the right foot against Northern Illinois. The match will be shown on ESPN+, with Champaign locals also having the option of tuning their radio to either 1400AM or 93.9FM for an audio-only broadcast.

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