Volleyball: Illinois Tournament ('Sep 1-2)

[1972Shocker]

Friday, Sep. 1 (5:00 p.m. CT) at Illinois (2-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
Champaign, Illinois (Huff Hall)
Live Stats // Watch

Saturday, Sep. 2 (1:00 p.m. CT) vs. Illinois State (0-3, 0-0 Missouri Valley)
Champaign, Illinois (Huff Hall)
Live Stats // Watch

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SCOUTING THE FIGHTING ILLINI:

• Illinois enters Friday at 2-0, having bested Northern Illinois 3-1 in a season-opening road contest before sweeping Valparaiso on Tuesday in the home opener.
• The Fighting Illini are picked seventh in the 14-team preseason Big Ten poll. Illinois is coming off a 15-15 season a year ago that included a 10-10 mark in conference play. 11 of the Fighting Illini's 15 losses came against ranked opponents.
• Illinois is tasked with replacing decorated setter Diana Brown, who graduated fifth in assists (4,247) and fourth in double-doubles (54) in program history.
• Senior outside hitter Raina Terry was a preseason All-Big Ten selection after leading Illinois with 444 kills and 4.07 kills per set in her junior season.
• Chris Tamas (pronounced Thomas) enters his seventh season as head coach of the Fighting Illini volleyball program in 2023. Tamas owns an overall record of 117-67 (.636), including a 69-49 (.585) mark in Big Ten play, highlighted by a trip to the Final Four in 2018.

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SCOUTING THE REDBIRDS:

• Illinois State opened the season with a trio of defeats in Columbia, Missouri against Missouri, Central Arkansas and Colgate. The Redbirds play Northwestern on Friday before battling the Shockers on Saturday.
• The Redbirds were picked seventh in the 12-team Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll after a 12-17 (5-13) mark a season ago.
• Head coach Allie Matters is in her second season leading the Redbirds. Matters is 91-50 through five seasons as a head coach after four seasons at Wright State.

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Hard to evaluate how the Shockers might do with the health of key players uncertain at this point. I'm hoping they can manage a win over illinois State.

[WuDrWu]

I'm concerned about the injuries too, but if we can't easily beat a bad Illinois State team that was swept by Colgate while hitting .019, then we have bigger problems than injuries (and I don't believe that's the case).

[1972Shocker]

I'm concerned about the injuries too, but if we can't easily beat a bad Illinois State team that was swept by Colgate while hitting .019, then we have bigger problems than injuries (and I don't believe that's the case).

Yeah, it doesn't look like Illinois State will be an RPI booster this year.

[1972Shocker]

Brylee not in the starting lineup vs Illinois but Sophia is and has two early kills. I am not watching but it looks like they might be running Morgan-W in the frow row in place of Brylee. When Morgan rotated off the front row Emerson entered the match. I'm surprised the didn't go with Ba to replace Brylee.

In any case, I won't be able to follow this match real closely.

Tied up at 5-5 early in Set 1.

https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=475589&vislive=wich

It available to watch on the B1G+ network for a fee.

[WuDrWu]

Just not good enough. Yes Morgan W spent time in the front row.

[WuDrWu]

Terry is a monster. 11 kills at 3-2 in the 2nd set. BUT the Shocks are doing a better job adjusting and the Illini are struggling with our short serves. Gotta keep Terry in the back row as much as possible.

Shocks up 13-5 after an Illini timeout.

[1972Shocker]

What was the score in the 1st set. Live stats have it at 6-6 with the Shocks taking the 2nd set 25-19.

[WuDrWu]

PBP guy is BRUTAL. Color is good though.

Won serve receive clearly. Izzy still plays too many balls. Going to have to find some left side scoring and keep Terry under control.

[WuDrWu]

What was the score in the 1st set. Live stats have it at 6-6 with the Shocks taking the 2nd set 25-19.

Won’t bet, but I think it was 25-20. It was MUCH more competitive than set 2.

A fast start that gets Terry in the back row ASAP is imperative.

[WuDrWu]

Still not converting near enough over passes, free balls and dumps. Gotta be better there.

[WuDrWu]

Can’t overrule this.

[WuDrWu]

And they don’t, thank goodness. 12-8 Shocks. 13-8. Annalie serving tough.

[WuDrWu]

Not being a homer but this was CLEARLY touched but not reversed. Either blind or cheating. Cost us but we won the next to stop the run. 18-13.

[RoyalShock]

Nice job after the timeout in set 5, down 8-10 and going on a 7-1 run to close out the match.

[WuDrWu]

Nice job after the timeout in set 5, down 8-10 and going on a 7-1 run to close out the match.

Yes it was. Annalie and Gabi were really good and managed to dig enough to keep Raina Terry from putting up a ridiculous number kill wise after 9 kills in the 1st set and 2 of the first 3 points in set 2. Shocks definitely took a chance with really tough serving, and it paid off bigly even though the stats don't tell the story (6 aces 12 errors). So many times the Illini were out of system on the first swing and that allowed the Shocks to score multiple points in a row several times.

Honestly not sure how accurate the stats were. They obviously are wrong in the first set, but again, accuracy beyond that is also in question.

Can't imagine how bad we beat them if Brylee is healthy and Raina sits. Says something for our girls to battle like that on the road against a decent team. And it was a good, solid crowd with a student section that was lively. The six teams picked ahead of Illinois in the B1G are all ranked, and likely 5 will host.