University of Illinois
Penn State
November 13, 2026 | Volleyball
PREVIEW
| Match 27 // #25 Illinois Set for Top-25 Showdown vs. #10 Penn State on Saturday Night | |
|---|---|
| Match 27: #10 Penn State | Saturday, Nov. 14 | 7 p.m. CT | Champaign, Ill. | Huff Hall | B1G+ | Radio | Live Stats |
| Buy Tickets | Buy Tickets Here |
| Rosters | Illinois | Penn State |
| Printable Notes | Illinois |
| Series History |
ILL trails, 13-53; Last Match: PSU won, 3-1, on 11/9/2025; Streak: L3 |
| Fan Guide | Fan Guide for Attending Home Volleyball Matches |
| Parking | Map |
| New in 2026 |
Team Runout: The team will now run out of the northeast doors of Huff Hall, running in front of the north bleachers before turning left and running along the length of the west bleachers. Post-Match Autographs/Photos: Following all Illinois home wins, Fighting Illini student-athletes will sign autographs and take photos with fans in front of the west bleachers. |
| Promotions |
Senior Night - Celebrate the Illinois Volleyball senior class and recognize their hard work and dedication to the Orange and Blue. The senior ceremony will take place on the south end of the court following the match. |
| Shop Illini Gear | Online Store |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The #25-ranked Fighting Illini close their home schedule on Saturday night with a ranked showdown against #10 Penn State on Senior Night. First serve from Huff Hall is set for 7 p.m. CT on B1G+, while the Orange and Blue will honor five senior student-athletes and two student managers/analysts following the match.
LAST TIME OUT
#25 Illinois fought from start to finish in a three-set road defeat at #1 Nebraska at Bob Devaney Sports Center on Thursday night.
Falling by a 25-23, 25-20, 25-12 margin, the Fighting Illini head into the final two matches of the regular season with a 17-9 record and a 9-6 mark in Big Ten play.
Paityn Chapman posted a team-high 11 kills alongside six digs, while Alyssa Aguayo amassed nine kills, two digs, an ace, and a block. Madi Miles tallied five kills, with Ashlyn Philpot adding four kills of her own.
Maya Harris logged a match-high three aces, six digs, two kills, and an assist. Talita Goncalves totaled eight digs and three assists, while Kristina Starostenko collected two kills and two blocks.
Kenna Phelan finished with 18 assists and four digs, while Sophi Randall recorded 11 assists and three digs.
OPPONENT SCOUT
#10 Penn State sits at 20-5 this year and is 12-3 in conference play. The Nittany Lions dropped two ranked games in nonconference to then-#3 Kentucky and #16 Tennessee, though they swept then-#4 Stanford in a neutral-site matchup at the Palestra. Penn State has gotten hot in Big Ten play as the Nittany Lions have won their last eight contests, including five against ranked teams.
The Nittany Lions went 19-13 last season, falling to Texas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Four freshmen joined the veteran group led by returning All-American right side Kennedy Martin. Martin has been named as the Big Ten Player of the Week three consecutive times. This season, she is averaging 4.85 kills per set, which ranks first in the Big Ten and seventh nationally, alongside 2.29 digs/set and 0.84 blocks/set while swinging at a .347 clip.
Sophomore middle blocker Gabrielle Nichols has made a big impact this year, leading the squad with 1.28 blocks/set while adding 1.74 kills/set. Penn State also picked up a big piece from the portal in setter Alexis Stucky from Florida. The Preseason All-Big Ten selection has run the offense well with 10.72 assists/set, the fourth-best mark in the conference, along with 2.29 digs/set defensively.
Penn State is led by Katie Schumacher-Cawley, who is in her fifth season as head coach. In her time at Penn State, she holds a 123-37 record, with an 11-3 record in the NCAA Tournament. Coaching at her alma mater, she led the Nittany Lions to a national championship in 2024, going 35-2 that year.
SERIES HISTORY
Illinois is 13-53 all-time against Penn State, with the Nittany Lions winning the last three meetings. The Illini are 9-22 when playing Penn State in Champaign. Illinois is looking for its first win over the Nittany Lions since the 2022 season.
Illinois is 44-177 all-time against top-10 opponents. While the Illini have defeated five ranked opponents this season, they are looking for their first top-10 victory since defeating #10 Purdue on the road last season. The Orange and Blue are seeking their first top-10 home triumph since taking down #8 Wisconsin in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
ILLINI AMONG THE BIG TEN'S BEST
The Illini head into the week ranked among the conference's elite in multiple stats this season:
Individually:
- Maya Harris: Second in aces/set (0.47)
- Talita Goncalves: Third in digs/set (3.87)
- Kristina Starostenko: Fifth in hitting % (.405)
- Paityn Chapman: Ninth in points/set (4.16)
- Maya Harris: First in total aces (45)
- Talita Goncalves: Second in total digs (368)
- Paityn Chapman: Sixth in total kills (331)
As a team:
- Digs/set: Fourth (14.39)
- Hitting percentage: Sixth (.271) - 22nd nationally
- Kills/set: Sixth (13.96) - 18th nationally
- Assists/set: Seventh (12.72) - 31st nationally
RECORD BOOK CHECK-IN
- Kristina Starostenko's .405 hitting percentage would currently rank eighth-best in a single season in program history.
- Maya Harris is three aces away from entering the top 10 for most in a single season in Illini history.
ILLINI SECURE RANKED WIN VS. #22 SPARTANS
Illinois returned to winning ways with another ranked victory, defeating #22 Michigan State in four sets at Huff Hall on Oct. 15.
Through the first seven matches of conference play, all four of the Fighting Illini's Big Ten wins came against ranked opponents.
Madi Miles led the way once again offensively, tying her career-high with 15 kills while swinging at a .303 clip. Paityn Chapman collected 13 kills, six digs, and five blocks, while Ashlyn Philpot finished with 11 kills and four stuffs.
Kenna Phelan ended the night with 49 assists and nine digs, while Talita Goncalves tallied 20 digs and four assists. Alyssa Aguayo filled the stat sheet with eight kills, 11 digs, and an ace.
ILLINOIS RETURNS TO THE AVCA RANKINGS
The Fighting Illini checked in at #24 in the Oct. 5 AVCA Coaches Poll, the program's first appearance in the rankings since 2022.
One of a conference-record 10 Big Ten teams represented in last week's AVCA poll, the Orange and Blue started Big Ten play with three consecutive ranked victories. Illinois first defeated #15 Minnesota at Huff Hall on Sept. 24 before sweeping #23 USC two days later on Sept. 26. The Illini's road win over the Huskies marked the team's third ranked victory in eight days.
Illinois returned to the rankings on Nov. 9, coming in at #25.
ILLINI EARN RANKED ROAD WIN AT #22 WASHINGTON
Illinois continued its winning ways with its third straight ranked victory, sweeping #22 Washington on the road in Seattle on Oct. 2.
Four Fighting Illini finished with double-digit digs, while three players posted 10 kills as the Orange and Blue extended their winning streak to seven and secured their third ranked win in the span of eight days.
Three Illini recorded double-doubles, including a 10-kill, 17-dig outing for Paityn Chapman. She also added two aces and two blocks.
Kenna Phelan finished with 36 assists and 16 digs, while Alyssa Aguayo amassed 10 kills and 11 digs.
Kristina Starostenko collected 10 kills and six blocks while swinging at a .643 clip, while Taylor de Boer tallied eight kills and a career-high six blocks.
Talita Goncalves totaled 13 digs and three assists, and Maya Harris added nine digs and three aces.
ILLINI OPEN B1G PLAY WITH TWO RANKED WINS
Illinois started conference play with a statement, defeating #15 Minnesota on Sept. 24 and #23 USC on Sept. 26 during the opening weekend of Big Ten action.
Against the Golden Gophers, Paityn Chapman led the Illini offense with a team-most 15 kills to go alongside nine digs, three blocks, and an ace. Taylor de Boer totaled 11 kills and a block, while Kristina Starostenko collected eight kills and four blocks.
Kenna Phelan secured her fourth double-double of the season with 37 assists, 10 digs, and two kills. Talita Goncalves finished with a team-best 19 digs, while Alyssa Aguayo amassed 11 digs, three kills, and a block.
Ashlyn Philpot logged seven kills and three total blocks, including a solo stuff. Maya Harris added four digs, two kills, and two aces.
Illinois' win against #23 USC saw the Illini secure ranked victories in consecutive matches for the first time since 2019.
Aguayo led the Illini with 18 kills, tying her then-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.
Starostenko collected seven kills and two blocks, while Philpot finished with six kills and four total stuffs.
Chapman posted five kills, four blocks, and a team-high 15 digs, while Goncalves tallied 13 digs of her own. Phelan ended the night with 36 assists, nine digs, two kills, and an ace.
De Boer recorded the 500th kill of her collegiate career during the contest, while Harris had seven digs and a kill.
GONCALVES, 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 Sept. 28.
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, 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 victory 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 Gonalves 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. During his time at the helm of the program, Tamas owns an overall record of 179-119 (.601), including a 107-86 (.554) 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.
ILLINOIS INKS THREE ON NATIONAL SIGNING DAY
Illinois head coach Chris Tamas announced three additions to the Fighting Illini's 2026-27 signing class. Mia Lamberti, Cika Saolotoga-Talaga, and Sofia Simic signed Big Ten Athletics Aid Agreements and are all set to join the Orange and Blue in January.
"I am very excited to add these three players to our program. They all work extremely hard and are ferocious competitors," Tamas said. "They all embrace the Fighting Illini spirit, and we look forward to their contributions both on and off the court. They will join us during the winter and will make an immediate impact on the program."
Mia Lamberti // Peoria, Ill. // Setter
- Three-time Illinois Volleyball Coaches Association 3A Girls All-State First Team (2024-26)
- Three-time All-Mid Illini Conference First Team
- Two-time Journal Star Player of the Year
- Two-time AVCA All-State First Team
- 2025 AVCA High School All-America Third Team
- 2026 AVCA All-Region
Cika Saolotoga-Talaga // Long Beach, Calif. // Libero/Defensive Specialist
- Four-time Moore League champion
- Three-time All-Moore League First Team (2024-26)
- 2023 All-Moore League Second Team
- Four-year varsity letter winner at Long Beach Poly High School
- Named to All-Moore League First Team and Redondo Classic All-Tournament team as a senior
- Two-time Press-Telegram Dream Team
Sofia Simic // Hoisington, Kan. // Outside Hitter
- Three-time All-League First Team (2024-26)
- 2025 Kansas 3A Player of the Year
- Two-time unanimous All-State selection
- Holds Kansas' all-time and all-class record for most aces in a single season
- Has recorded 2,000+ kills across her four years at Hoisington High School
- 2025 USA Volleyball NTDP invitee
- Trained with Serbian national team over the summer in 2025 and 2026
- Under Armour Next Camp invitee from 2023-25
