In their 15th competition of the 2023 season, the Illini travel to play the No. 19 ranked Purdue Boilermakers at 5 p.m. in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Head coach Chris Tamas and the Illini are coming off a home win last Saturday versus the Iowa Buckeyes, improving their record to 7-7 in the team’s 50th season and 2-2 in Big Ten play. Led by head coach Dave Shondell, Purdue sits at eight and five, also two and two in the Big Ten. The history between the programs shows favorable outcomes for the Illini, who are up seven games at 49-42 overall. The Boilermakers took the last matchup in 2022 with a 3-2 victory over the Illini. Tamas holds a 5-4 record over Purdue in his head coaching career. Their last four meetings resulted in an even trade of wins.
The Illini stunned Iowa last Saturday in Huff Hall, taking their first Big Ten sweep of the season. Senior hitter Raina Terry dominated with 19 kills, hitting .348 on the night. Other notable scorers were junior hitter Kayla Burbage, who had 10 kills and three blocks, and graduate student middle blocker Kennedy Collins, who added five blocks as well.
Terry has accumulated high praise for her talents this season, ranking top 10 nationally in multiple stat lines. The Illini hitter sits third in the nation for attacks per set with a score of 12.82 and ninth in points and kills per set with scores of 5.26 and 4.46 respectively. She also ranks first in the Big Ten and 12th in the nation for kills, with 255 kills total. For the second straight year, Terry was selected for the Big Ten preseason squad, one of fifteen conference athletes to be honored.
In the Illini’s last West Lafayette outing at the Boilermaker Challenge, Collins recorded her 400th career block versus UCF, with eight solo blocks and 58 block assists so far this season. This puts the veteran at 15th in all-time Illini rankings.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Coming in at 8-5 this week, Purdue has lost three straight matches at home, most recently against Northwestern last Sunday. The Boilermakers are second in the league with 745 total digs on the year so far. A leader in the Big Ten, Raven Colvin, has recorded 75 total blocks, ranking 17th in the nation.
The Illini return to Huff Hall this Saturday to face the No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers at 6 p.m. in a primetime Big Ten matchup.
@brendanrecka
