Illinois women’s volleyball is in for an exciting weekend as they are set to play two Big Ten matches against Penn State this Friday in Champaign, Illinois, at 8 p.m. and Iowa on Saturday in Champaign at 6 p.m. Both matches will be held at home in Huff Hall.
Head coach Chris Tamas leads the Illini and currently holds a season record of 6-6 and a Big Ten record of 1-1. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions are led by head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley and have an overall record of 8-3 with a Big Ten record of 2-0. Lastly, the Hawkeyes are led by head coach Jim Barnes with a season record of 8-6 and a Big Ten record of 0-2.
Penn State holds the 50-13 all-time advantage over Illinois. However, the Illini came out on top during the last meeting between the two teams, beating the Nittany Lions 3-1 at Huff Hall last season. This was the only win for Illinois over a ranked opponent in 2022. Against the Hawkeyes, Illinois is 69-14, having won 10 straight matches. During the matchup at Huff Hall last year, Illinois beat Iowa on Senior Day. Tamas owns a 3-7 record against Penn State and a 10-0 record against Iowa.
Illinois secured its first Big Ten win against Michigan State last Sunday in an intense five-set game. The Illini are hoping to use that momentum to continue their winning streak to take on two Big Ten teams this weekend.
The Illini are stacked with players who constantly bring their A-game onto the court. With just the last game, senior outside hitter Raina Terry owned a 25-kill performance, the fourth time this year she has tallied over 20 kills. Impressively, graduate middle blocker Kennedy Collins recorded a season-best in both kills and blocks with 19 and nine. Collins also owned an impressive .680 hitting percentage for the match. Not to mention, sophomore setter Brooke Mosher added her sixth double-double of the year when she tallied 46 assists and career-best 17 digs. To top it all off, freshman middle blocker Cari Bohm’s seven total blocks tied her career-high.
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The Illini seem to be improving with each game and continue to do so by setting high standards for themselves and working hard towards meeting those goals. With the support from the coaching staff and, most importantly, the fans, Illinois seems to be doing well this season and can hopefully take over Penn State and Iowa this weekend on home turf.
