After a long off-season, Illinois volleyball is back in action Friday and Saturday in Bowling Green, Ohio. Illinois will take on Cincinnati and Bowling Green in the Best Western Invitational.
Illinois is coming off a season where they went 16-14 and missed out on the NCAA tournament. The team finished seventh in the Big Ten at the end of the year and dropped their last two games to end.
Illinois returns six of their starters to the lineup, with one of the six being graduate student outside hitter Raina Terry. Terry is entering her fifth and final year at Illinois and was named to the All-Big Ten First Team and AVCA All-Region in back-to-back seasons. Terry is looking to have a dominant season as she led the team last year in kills and kills per set.
Terry was also named to the preseason All-Big Ten and is the only Illini on the list, as the overall team falls to 11th on the conference preseason poll. During conference play last year, Terry was second in points-per-set, having 5.41, and was third in kills-per-set having 4.72.
Illinois begins the invitational against Cincinnati on Friday night. Cincinnati finished the previous season 12-16, and ended on a three-game losing streak, only winning four total sets during that time.
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Head coach Chris Tamas is heading into his eighth season as the Illinois leader and has never faced Cincinnati during his tenure. The program itself has faced Cincinnati seven times, winning six matches and only losing once. The last time Illinois faced Cincinnati was Sept. 15, 2012, when Illinois came out on top 3-1 and won the last four matchups between both schools.
One Illinois player who is familiar with Cincinnati is sophomore setter Vivian Campbell. Campbell transferred from Cincinnati to the Illini and appeared in eight matches for 12 total sets. Campbell had a season high in assists and digs during a Sept. 15 game against Butler where she had 27 assists and six digs against them. Cincinnati lost that game 3-2.
“Vivian has a very nice delivery as a setter and the thing that stuck out to me the most when watching her film was that she can be very deceptive,” Tamas said. “She has some nice experience from her high school, club and former college.”
In game two of the invitational, Illinois will take on Bowling Green. Illinois has never faced off against Bowling Green, making this a first-time matchup between the two programs. Bowling Green went 19-13 last year and finished the season with a loss in the third round of the MAC Tournament to Western Michigan.
Bowling Green had some experience against Big Ten opponents last year, facing Ohio State and Michigan twice. They went 2-1 in those games with both wins coming over Michigan in back-to-back games.
Illinois faced one MAC opponent last year beating Northern Illinois 3-1. Illinois’ first game is slated for 2 p.m. against Cincinnati and will be streamed on YouTube. The second game against Bowling Green will be played on ESPN on Saturday at 5 p.m.
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