After four games and two weeks on the road, Illinois (12-5, 7-1) returns to Huff Hall on Friday. This weekend’s matches will only be Illinois’ third and fourth home Big Ten matches of the season. Despite that, the Illini have had an incredible start to Big Ten play and are currently on a five-match win streak.
Illinois’ first challenge will be the ranked rematch against No. 11 Purdue (15-3, 6-2) in the annual “Hail to the Orange Out” game on Friday at 7 p.m.. There is no respite in conference play as Illinois will play its fifth back-to-back game of the season against Michigan (12-7, 2-6) on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Win streak
The Illini are currently on their longest win streak of the season and have taken center stage in Big Ten volleyball. However, they have not necessarily played their best volleyball during this winning spree. Two sweeps, two four-set wins and one five-set win show the team’s ability to hold on in tough matches.
“They have had a lot of resilience,” said head coach Chris Tamas on Thursday. “They have the memory of goldfish. They forget what happened last play, they get skin on to the next play and they don’t let the last plays, whether it be good or bad, weigh them down.”
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Nine out of Illinois’ 15 won sets in this stretch have been won by three points or less. Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Taylor de Boer has been the key architect of this streak, leading the team in kills in four matches. She will be important against Purdue’s strong defense, which has been restricting opponents to 12.9 kills per set at a 0.206 hitting percentage.
Veteran freshman
Freshman outside hitter Alyssa Aguayo has continued to impress with her shot-making and ability to lead the offense. She is second in the team in kills and kills per set this season. Aguayo has complemented de Boer’s offense very well and has continued to impact key games. According to her, being calm on the court helps her game.
“I have overall been pretty steady and consistent,” Aguayo said on Thursday. “I have grown into it more, but I think that’s just one of the traits that I have that I have always tried to work on, just like staying consistent on the court.”
Blocks for days
Illinois’ triple-blocking line this season has found massive success. Composed of two middle blockers, sophomore Ashlyn Philpot and graduate student Kayla Burbage, alongside opposite redshirt sophomore Auburn Tomkinson, it has been the team’s defensive stronghold. They will be key to restricting opposing offenses this weekend.
Both Philpot and Burbage lead the team with 67 blocks each. Tomkinson is second in the team with 51 blocks. The Boilermakers have strong blocking numbers as their blocks versus opponent blocks tally as 168.5-113.5 compared to the Illini’s 145.5-141.0. The same holds true for the Wolverines as they have a 156.0-128.0 tally in blocks.
Return of the Boilermakers
Earlier this season, on Sept. 28, Illinois earned its first top-10 win since 2021 by upsetting then No. 10 Purdue. That was a road game; now, the Illini play as hosts in the rematch and will hope to serve another upset. Out of Purdue’s three losses this season, Illinois was its only non-ranked defeat.
The Boilermakers are a very good team and have already swept four Big Ten teams this season. They also hold a perfect 7-0 record on the road and will be hungry for payback. Tamas and the team are looking at the rematch as an opportunity.
“You don’t get it very often anymore, right?” Tamas said. “Whenever you get to play a team for a second time, you are going to expect some adjustments being made, and you look back and see where they scored points, where they might make shifts defensively. We have shown to be adaptable, and we can change game plans on people, too.”
Back-to-back games
Michigan’s season has lost momentum after a red-hot 6-0 start. Now 12-7, the Wolverines have lost four out of their last five games. The Illini also have a historical edge over them, as they lead the all-time series 54-27 and have won the last three matchups. Michigan has not won a game in Champaign since 2019, and it will be looking to change that.
One department the Wolverines excel in is aces. They have registered 100 aces while only allowing 73 from opponents. However, they have also made 192 service errors, which is something the Illini will try to capitalize on.
Michigan plays a road game against Ohio State (3-13, 0-8) on Friday and will be on the second game of a back-to-back as well. Keeping errors down could be key to victory on Saturday evening.
