University of Illinois
Lindenwood
Fighting Illini Set to Host Lindenwood, Play Home-and-Home Series vs. Marquette
September 8, 2026 | Volleyball
PREVIEW
| Matches 6-8 // Illinois Slated for Three Matches in Week Three | |
|---|---|
| Match 6: Lindenwood | Wednesday, Sept. 9 | 7 p.m. CT | Champaign, Ill. | Huff Hall | B1G+ | Radio | Live Stats |
| Match 7: at Marquette | Friday, Sept. 11 | 5 p.m. CT | Milwaukee, Wis. | Al McGuire Center | FS1 | Radio | Live Stats |
| Match 8: Marquette | Sunday, Sept. 13 | 3 p.m. CT | Champaign, Ill. | Huff Hall | B1G+ | Radio | Live Stats |
| Buy Tickets | Lindenwood | Marquette |
| Rosters | Illinois | Lindenwood | Marquette |
| Printable Notes | Illinois |
| Series History |
Lindenwood: First meeting |
| 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 |
Lindenwood Marquette |
| Shop Illini Gear | Online Store |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois continues its nonconference schedule with three matches, including two at home, in Week 3 of the regular season. The Fighting Illini will host Lindenwood at Huff Hall on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT before playing two matches against Marquette, first on Friday at 5 p.m. CT in Milwaukee, Wis., before battling the Golden Eagles at Huff Hall on Sunday at 3 p.m. CT.
Wednesday and Sunday's home contests will stream on B1G+, while Friday night's clash will air nationally on FS1.
LAST TIME OUT
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. Illinois' .494 hitting percentage ranked fourth in the nation at the time.
Kristina Starostenko equaled her career-high of 10 kills while swinging at an error-free .714 and adding a team-most four blocks. Paityn Chapman continued her strong start to the season and led the way with 16 kills, three digs, and a block.
Taylor de Boer collected nine kills and two digs, while Alyssa Aguayo filled the stat sheet with eight kills, six digs, and two blocks.
Defensively, Talita Goncalves tallied a team-best 13 digs and added four assists, while Kenna Phelan finished with 38 assists, eight digs, two aces, and a block.
OPPONENT SCOUT
Lindenwood makes its way to Champaign with a 5-1 record while riding a four-match winning streak. The Lions swept the weekend at the NIU Invitational, dropping only one set in three matches. The Illini will be the first power conference opponent of the season for Lindenwood.
The Lions return their top four scorers from last year's team that finished 11-16. That includes 2025 All-OVC First Team selection Autumn Bax, who has recorded 65 kills while hitting at a .301 clip. Senior Dana Grib, an OVC Player to Watch, leads the defensive efforts once again with a team-high 79 digs through 22 sets this season. As a team, the Lions come in leading the OVC in hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, kills, blocks, and assists.
Lindenwood is led by Will Condon, who is in his 10th season as the program's head coach. The Lions are 139-124 under Condon. He was named OVC Coach of the Year in 2024 while also leading the Lions to a conference tournament championship.
Meanwhile, Marquette has started the 2026 campaign with a 2-3 record, most recently falling to #4 Stanford on the road in four sets. Marquette lost its only other power conference match to #2 Texas in five sets to open the season.
The Golden Eagles brought back five players from an 18-11 team that reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2025 before falling to Louisville. With a wave of newcomers, freshman setter Luanna Markus has run the offense with 173 assists while also picking up 38 digs en route to winning BIG EAST Setter of the Week on Aug. 31. The squad's biggest offseason pickup was highly touted transfer Carson Tyler. After being named to the All-BIG EAST preseason team, the junior outside hitter has led the team with 3.74 kills/set while hitting .244. Tyler is also second on the team with 45 digs.
Tom Mendoza enters his second season at the helm for Marquette after leading the Golden Eagles to an 18-11 campaign that saw him coach two AVCA All-Americans and the BIG East Co-Freshman of the Year. Prior to Marquette, Mendoza was the head coach at High Point and then South Carolina and holds a career 173-122 record and seven NCAA tournament appearances.
SERIES HISTORY
Wednesday's match marks the first time that the Lions and Fighting Illini have ever squared off.
Illinois has a 6-1 record in the all-time series against Marquette while winning all four matches at Huff Hall. The two sides last faced off during a ranked match in 2022, when the Golden Eagles pulled out a five-set win. The Illini had won the previous six meetings, which included three wins during the NCAA Tournament.
POULTER RETURNS FOR HALL OF FAME INDUCTION
Former Illinois setter Jordyn Poulter returns to Champaign-Urbana for her induction into the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame on Sept. 11 as part of the Class of 2026.
Poulter helped lead the United States to Olympic gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games and silver at the 2024 Paris Games, while being named "Best Setter" at the 2020 Games. She earned All-America honors three times at Illinois, including First Team honors as a senior in 2018 when Poulter led the Illini to the NCAA National Semifinals. She ranked second nationally with 1,521 assists in 2018, when she was named the AVCA Northeast Region Player of the Year.
Poulter currently competes professionally with LOVB Salt Lake in League One Volleyball.
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.
MEREDITH SCHAMUN RETURNS TO RICE
Illinois associate head coach Meredith Schamun returned to her alma mater, Rice, during Illinois' matches at the Rice Invitational I from Sept. 5-6.
A highly decorated setter at Rice, Schamun was a four-year starter for the Owls from 2007-10. The Conference USA Setter of the Year in 2009, Schamun was a Conference USA Championship MVP and a two-time All-C-USA First Team, AVCA All-Region, and AVCA All-America honorable mention selection. She helped lead the Owls to a conference championship and two NCAA Tournament berths and finished her career as Rice's leader in career assists with 5,190.
TAMAS EXTENDS CONTRACT THROUGH 2028 SEASON
Illinois volleyball head coach Chris Tamas has 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 165-112 (.596), including a 98-80 (.551) 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.
2025 IN REVIEW
The 2025 season saw the Fighting Illini compete in their ninth campaign under the direction of head coach Chris Tamas. Illinois finished the year with a 13-16 record, including an 8-12 mark in Big Ten play.
Following the regular season, Taylor de Boer and Kenna Phelan were selected to the All-Big Ten Second Team, and Alyssa Aguayo was named to the All-Freshman Team. De Boer and Ashlyn Philpot earned spots on the AVCA All-Midwest Region First Team, while Phelan claimed Honorable Mention status.
Illinois picked up its first win of the season at the inaugural Sprouts Farmers Market Broadway Block Party, with the Illini's 3-1 victory over Vanderbilt helping Tamas secure his 150th triumph at the helm of the program. The Orange and Blue ultimately went 5-4 during nonconference play, which included true road wins over Notre Dame and Illinois State.
The Illini began Big Ten play on a positive note, going 7-1 across their first eight contests. Illinois started conference competition with a sweep over Oregon before tallying its best win over the season in a 3-1 road win at #10 Purdue. The match, played at Mackey Arena, marked the program's first victory over a top-10 opponent since 2021, while the Illini started 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 2022.
After dropping a hard-fought road loss to #7 Wisconsin, Illinois rattled off five consecutive wins to move to 7-1 in Big Ten play. Four of those victories came on the road (Maryland, Rutgers, Ohio State, and Northwestern) along with a five-set home victory over Michigan State.
The Illini played in front of a sellout crowd on Nov. 2 against Iowa before hosting the Huff Hall Centennial Celebration vs. #25 Penn State on Nov. 9.
ILLINI SET ATTENDANCE RECORD IN 2025
The Illini recorded the highest average home attendance in program history in 2025, averaging a program-best 3,238 fans at Huff Hall across 12 home contests.
Illinois hosted a sellout against Iowa on Nov. 2, 2025, while seven matches featured an attendance of over 3,000.
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.
ORANGE AND BLUE ON NATIONAL TV
Illinois is slated for eight nationally televised regular-season matches, including six on Big Ten Network, one on FS1, and one on SEC Network.
The Fighting Illini's nonconference matches at Tennessee (Sept. 1; SEC Network) and Marquette (Sept. 11; FS1) mark the team's first televised contests of the season.
The Orange and Blue will battle Oregon (Oct. 4) and Purdue (Oct. 11) on the road on Big Ten Network. Four home matches at Huff Hall will also feature on BTN: Wisconsin (Oct. 8), Michigan State (Oct. 15), Northwestern (Oct. 29), and Ohio State (Nov. 1).
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.
Three matches will be played in the opening round of the tournament, followed by four second-round matches. The competition will then progress through the quarterfinals and semifinals, culminating with the championship match slated for November 25. One off day will be built into the tournament schedule.
The Big Ten regular-season schedule will decrease from 20 to 17 matches, in a single, round-robin format to account for the tournament.
