University of Illinois
Washington
Fighting Illini Fly to Pacific Northwest for Ranked Road Matches at #22 Washington, #17 Oregon
October 1, 2026 | Volleyball
PREVIEW
| Matches 14+15 // Illinois Set for Road Tests at #22 Washington, #17 Oregon | |
|---|---|
| Match 14: #22 Washington | Friday, Oct. 2 | 9 p.m. CT | Seattle, Wash. | Alaska Airlines Arena | B1G+ | Radio | Live Stats |
| Match 15: #17 Oregon | Sunday, Oct. 4 | 3 p.m. CT | Eugene, Ore. | Matthew Knight Arena | Big Ten Network | Radio | Live Stats |
| Rosters | Illinois | Washington | Oregon |
| Printable Notes | Illinois |
| Series History |
Washington: WASH leads, 5-4; Last Match: ILL won, 3-1, on 11/14/2025; Streak: W1 |
| Shop Illini Gear | Online Store |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois continues its stretch of six straight ranked matchups to start Big Ten play as the Fighting Illini fly to the Pacific Northwest for road matches at #22 Washington and #17 Oregon.
The Orange and Blue will take on the Huskies on Friday at 9 p.m. CT on B1G+ before battling the Ducks on Sunday at 3 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.
LAST TIME OUT
After defeating #15 Minnesota to open Big Ten play, Illinois closed its homestand with its second ranked win of the week, defeating #23 USC in straight sets at Huff Hall on Saturday night (Sept. 26).
The Fighting Illini, on a six-match winning streak, improved to 10-3 and secured ranked victories in consecutive matches for the first time since 2019.
Alyssa Aguayo led the Illini with 18 kills, tying her career-best mark while hitting at a whopping .500 clip and adding eight digs, two blocks, and an ace. She posted just one error on 34 swings.
Kristina Starostenko collected seven kills and two blocks, while Ashlyn Philpot finished with six kills and four total stuffs.
Paityn Chapman posted five kills, four blocks, and a team-high 15 digs, while Talita Goncalves tallied 13 digs of her own. Kenna Phelan ended the night with 36 assists, nine digs, two kills, and an ace.
Taylor de Boer recorded the 500th kill of her collegiate career during the contest, while Maya Harris had seven digs and a kill.
OPPONENT SCOUT
Undefeated #22 Washington will kick off the Illini's West Coast trip on Friday night. The Huskies opened Big Ten play with a four-set win over Michigan State and a sweep of Michigan, both of which came on the road and helped them jump into the rankings this week.
The Huskies are coming off a 13-17 season and were picked to finish 13th in the Big Ten prior to the season. Among the returners, junior middle Julia Hunt leads the defense with 48.0 blocks for a team that has held opponents to the third-worst hitting percentage among Big Ten teams. Washington has had an influx of new players as well, with transfer setter Andrea Fabikovicová making quite the impact with six double-doubles thus far and leading the team with 406 assists. Kaitlyn Nguyen was a part of a highly touted freshman class and has looked the part. Wearing the libero jersey, she is ninth in the conference with 3.73 digs/set and recently tied a program record with 26 digs in three sets.
Leslie Gabriel is in her fourth season in Seattle, leading the Huskies after 22 years as an assistant at Washington. Since taking the head coaching role, Washington is 59-44, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2024. In her entire tenure at Washington, Gabriel has 667 wins and has reached five Final Fours, won an NCAA Championship in 2005, coached 27 All-Americans, and was named National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2020.
Sunday's opponent, #17 Oregon, is 10-2 thus far and will be the second leg of the West Coast trip for the Illini. During nonconference play, Oregon went 1-1 against high-major opponents, beating Missouri but losing to #7 Arizona State. The Ducks split their first two games of Big Ten play, dropping a match in four at #6 Wisconsin before bouncing back with a four-set win at #15 Minnesota.
Oregon is coming off a 17-13 season that saw eight players return along with two All-Big Ten performers, which led to the Ducks being ranked #25 in the preseason and picked to finish eighth in the conference.
Fresh off an All-Big Ten First Team season, senior Valentina Vaulet has made a big impact for Oregon as she leads the squad with 145 kills and 19 aces and ranks seventh in the conference with 171 points. After putting together a historic 2025 freshman campaign that featured All-America Third Team, All-Big Ten First Team, and Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, opposite Alanah Clemente has continued to impress in 2026. This season, she is responsible for 3.0 kills/set and 26 blocks, which is third on the team. Transferring in from Missouri is setter Marina Crownover, who has posted four double-doubles this season and is sixth in the conference with 427 assists.
Trent Kersten is in the midst of his second season as the head coach of the Ducks. He previously spent two seasons at Loyola Marymount, where he led the Lions to a conference tournament championship, NCAA Tournament second round, and coached 13 all-conference selections.
SERIES HISTORY
The Orange and Blue are 4-5 all-time vs Washington and will have a chance to even the slate on Friday. The Illini took last year's match in four sets, which ended a four match skid against the Huskies, though Illinois is 2-1 when making the trip to Seattle.
Illinois is 3-3 in the all-time series against Oregon after sweeping the Ducks in last year's meeting. The Illini look for their first win in Eugene as they are currently 0-2 when making the trip.
GONÇALVES, PHELAN WIN B1G WEEKLY AWARDS
Fighting Illini senior setter Kenna Phelan and sophomore libero/defensive specialist Talita Goncalves were both honored with Big Ten weekly awards following the opening week of conference play, the conference office announced on Monday.
Phelan was named Big Ten Setter of the Week for the first time this season and for the second time in her career, while Goncalves was tabbed with Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors for the first time. The Illini duo received the recognition following Illinois' ranked wins over #15 Minnesota on Sept. 24 and #23 USC on Sept. 26.
Across the two matches, Phelan averaged 10.43 assists/set, 2.71 digs/set, and 0.57 kills/set while leading the Orange and Blue offense to a .266 hitting percentage, which ranked fifth in the conference last week.
Phelan started the week with a double-double against the Golden Gophers, recording 37 assists, 10 digs, two kills, and a block in the four-set win while playing all six rotations. Against the Women of Troy on Saturday, Phelan guided Illinois to a .301 hitting percentage while collecting 36 assists, nine digs, two kills, and an ace.
Goncalves served as the Illini's lone libero during the two matches and helped limit Illinois' two opponents to a .219 hitting percentage. She averaged 4.57 digs/set and 0.86 assists/set in seven sets of action.
She started the week with a team-high 19 digs against Minnesota while adding three assists and an ace. Two days later against the Trojans, Goncalves tallied 13 digs, three assists, and an ace to go alongside a perfect 1.000 reception percentage on 13 total attempts.
Phelan last captured Big Ten Setter of the Week honors on Sept. 29, 2025, while Goncalves is the Illini's first Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honoree since 2021.
This marked the first time two Fighting Illini players have been recognized with Big Ten weekly awards in the same week since Oct. 7, 2019, when Diana Brown (Freshman of the Week) and Ashlyn Fleming (Defensive Player of the Week) were both honored.
2026 NONCONFERENCE IN REVIEW
The Fighting Illini went 8-3 during nonconference play in 2026, which included a 3-1 mark at home and a 3-2 record in true road matches.
Illinois secured its first win of the season on Aug. 30 with a sweep over Syracuse and went 2-0 at the Rice Invitational with straight-set victories over McNeese State and [RV] Rice.
Defeating Lindenwood in straight sets on Sept. 9, Illinois then split its home-and-home series with Marquette. The Illini posted three wins in the final week of nonconference action with a road win over Eastern Illinois and back-to-back sweeps against Arkansas and Arkansas State (Sept. 19-20) at the Arkansas State Invitational.
ILLINOIS EARNS FIVE-SET WIN OVER MARQUETTE
Illinois secured a hard-fought five-set win over Marquette on Sept. 13 at Huff Hall.
The Fighting Illini used a 7-0 run late in the fifth set to turn a four-point deficit into a three-point lead.
Illinois recorded 73 kills, its most in a match since 2019, and 86 digs, its most since 2021. Five players finished with double-digit kills, while Talita Gonçalves accounted for 26 digs, the most by an Illini since 2024.
ILLINI RECORD RESOUNDING ROAD WIN AT RICE
Illinois closed its weekend in Houston with a resounding road sweep over Rice at Tudor Fieldhouse on Sept. 6.
The Fighting Illini hit .494 as a team, their most efficient percentage since 2018, while securing their second sweep in as many days.
NEW TO THE ORANGE AND BLUE
The Fighting Illini squad brought in six new student-athletes to the squad ahead of the 2026 season, including three from the transfer portal. Junior opposite Paityn Chapman joined the team from Tennessee in January, while fifth-year middle blocker Lindsay Oldendorf returned to her home state after spending her first four seasons at San Francisco and Northern Iowa. Sophomore libero/defensive specialist Talita Goncalves signed with the Illini in May after playing at San José State as a freshman.
Kristina Starostenko, a junior middle blocker from Ukraine, enters her first year at Illinois, while a pair of freshmen outside hitters from Indiana – Maya Harris and Madi Miles – are set for their first collegiate campaigns in Champaign.
TAMAS EXTENDS CONTRACT THROUGH 2028 SEASON
Head coach Chris Tamas signed a contract extension that will run through the 2028-29 academic year, which was announced on Aug. 1.
Tamas enters his 10th campaign as head coach of the Fighting Illini volleyball program in 2026 after being named to the position in February 2017. Across his first nine seasons at the helm of the program, Tamas owns an overall record of 172-113 (.604), including a 100-80 (.556) mark in the nation's toughest volleyball league, the Big Ten Conference. He also has guided the Fighting Illini to five NCAA Tournament appearances, including three NCAA Regional appearances and a trip to the Final Four in 2018, while he has led the Orange and Blue to 10+ conference wins in seven of his nine seasons thus far.
Tamas earned his 150th career head coaching win when the Illini defeated Vanderbilt at the Sprouts Farmers Market Broadway Block Party on Aug. 31, 2025. Illinois' ranked road win on Sept. 28, 2025, at No. 10 Purdue marked the program's highest-ranked road victory since 2021.
Illinois experienced one of its most successful seasons ever in 2018 under Tamas, who was subsequently named AVCA Northeast Region Coach of the Year. The Illini made the program's fourth-ever appearance in the NCAA National Semifinals as the No. 3 overall seed in the tournament, riding a 17-match win streak into the Final Four and ending the season ranked No. 3 in the AVCA Coaches Poll.
The team registered a 32-4 overall record and finished in second place in the Big Ten Conference with a 17-3 mark, with the 32 victories ranking tied for fourth-most in school history. Under Tamas' leadership, the Illini collected a number of individual honors, highlighted by AVCA All America First Team selections in Jordyn Poulter and Jacqueline Quade – the first time in program history Illinois had multiple first-team honorees in a season – as well as a Third Team selection in Ali Bastianelli.
Poulter and Bastianelli, who also garnered All-America Third Team honors in 2017, were also named Senior CLASS Award finalists and CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees. The trio also collected unanimous All-Big Ten First Team accolades, with junior Ashlyn Fleming named to the second team and Poulter garnering the Illini's first-ever Big Ten Conference Co-Setter of the Year honor.
LAND OF LINCOLN
The Illini squad features three players from the state of Illinois. Vivian Campbell (Oswego), Lindsay Oldendorf (Homer Glen), and Ava Wysocki (Kildeer) all hail from the Land of Lincoln.
BIG TEN TOURNAMENT SET TO DEBUT IN 2026
The Big Ten Conference will usher in a new era of collegiate volleyball this fall with the launch of its inaugural tournament Nov. 20-25, 2026, at Fishers Event Center, home of Major League Volleyball's Indy Ignite.
The top 15 teams in the regular-season standings will qualify for the tournament, bringing the nation's premier volleyball programs together in one venue for the first time.
The Big Ten regular-season schedule will decrease from 20 to 17 matches, in a single, round-robin format to account for the tournament.
