Illinois volleyball (18-12, 10-10) finished with a disappointing conclusion to its season. They started extremely hot, but the team faltered out to finish the year.
Illinois began the year 6-0 but only won two of its last seven games. The team’s hopes to make the postseason are now up in the air. A couple of things will get in the Illini’s way as they finish in the top eight of the conference. Their recent losses, though, will make them sweat out the selection show.
Tough, tough losses
Indiana (15-15, 8-12) was a team Illinois had already seen in Huff Hall this year, and the game finished with a favorable result for Illinois. Since then, Indiana has had time to sit and stew about that game and how it would attack Illinois in the rematch. Unfortunately for the Illini, the Hoosiers did that.
The Hoosiers held the Illini’s graduate student outside hitter Raina Terry to just 10 kills. It was a massive difference from the first time these two schools competed. In that matchup, Terry had 16 kills against the opponents. This time, the Hoosiers knew to target Terry and her force as a player.
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With this loss, head coach Chris Tamas is now 11-3 during his tenure against Indiana. However, Tamas remains confident they will see Illinois’ name come Selection Sunday.
“Still in the top eight in the conference, and you got to maybe keep your fingers crossed a little bit more,” Tamas said. “But if they’re picking like they did last year, the resume points out that we’ve had a pretty dang good year.”
What do projections say?
On Nov. 27, the NCAA made its final projections for where each team would land come tournament time. The bracket, made by Michella Chester, is listed on the NCAA site.
The current bracket projection has Illinois as a No. 7 seed against Ole Miss in Round 1. This bracket came out, of course, before the Illini’s loss to the Hoosiers. For now, it remains to be seen how this will affect Illinois’ ranking.
Taking a look at Ole Miss, it had a fairly similar season to Illinois. The Rebels have a 17-11 record with a below .500 conference record. Ole Miss finished the season with tough matchups, like a five-set loss to No. 14 Texas. Also, it sits at No. 8 in the SEC conference standings and is led by junior outside hitter Nia Washington. She leads the Rebels in kills and points on the year: 419 and 467.5, respectively.
If this is the end
If Illinois is not selected for the tournament, it will be nothing short of a disappointing season, given all the opportunities the team had to succeed. Regardless, there were many things to remember this year. The biggest thing to note is Terry’s record-breaking year.
Terry did not have to return for this season, but she knew there was still unfinished business with the Illini. Her growth as a team leader has helped Illinois position itself for a selection.
The main difference between this year’s team and last year’s was very telling throughout the year as the players came into their own roles. Illinois can look back into the skid it had to close off the year. Ending with three consecutive losses is always rough, especially when it impacts postseason chances.
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