Illinois volleyball (6-0) faces its first-ranked opponent of the year in the Hyatt Place Invitational. The invitational sees them taking on No. 24 Dayton and Western Kentucky.
Head coach Chris Tamas has played Western Kentucky once during his time as the leader at Illinois. Despite both Illinois and Dayton having played each other eight times previously, Tamas has only faced Dayton one time during his tenure.
The only time Illinois has seen Western Kentucky was on Sept. 2, 2017. In this game, Illinois came out on top in a sweep victory. The last time Illinois faced Dayton was on Sept. 10, 2022. Similarly, Illinois won that game in a sweep victory.
“We got some tougher tests, and we proved that we’re strong enough to come out on the other side of it,” Tamas said. “We like to have it look a certain way. We like to be clicking on all cylinders, but teams are good. Any one of these teams are good, and as we go into the future weeks and into the Big Ten, it’s all the same stuff.”
Game one in the invitational sees them taking on No. 24 Dayton. Both teams going into the game are undefeated to this point in the season. Dayton is currently led by redshirt senior outside hitter Lexie Almodovar and redshirt senior outside hitter Brooke Smith. Both players are top two on the team in kills. Almodovar leads with 71 on the year, and Smith is in second with 42.
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Almodovar is also tied for first on the team with six service aces on the year. As a team, Dayton has only lost three total sets in its five wins. The team has some prior experience against Big Ten teams. They faced Ohio State earlier in the season, but the game was called a no-contest due to the playing floor being unplayable. Both teams had split a set, one a piece to begin the game.
Western Kentucky currently sits at 4-3 on the year and has losses to Kentucky, Michigan State and Tennessee. Western Kentucky is led by senior outside hitter Kaylee Cox, who currently leads the team on kills with 82 and is averaging 3.04 kills per set. Cox is also hitting on a .321 on the year.
On the service line, Western Kentucky is led by sophomore middle hitter Gabby Weihe. Weihe has 12 service aces but also has 14 errors from behind the line in the early stretch of the year.
“These are all tournament-quality teams. We knew that when we set up our schedule,” Tamas said. “Always things to work on, and we keep on moving here.”
The first game begins on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, against No. 24 Dayton at 1 p.m. Game two is on Saturday against Western Kentucky with the first hit at 3 p.m. Both games will be on the radio on 93.9 FM WDWS or 1400 AM.
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