The newly minted No. 25-ranked Illinois volleyball team has won six of eight since a three-match skid in early October.
Illinois is coming off a much-needed sweep of then-No. 21 Indiana in Bloomington on Sunday, 29-27, 25-19, 28-26.
"Illinois was just much more aggressive in every phase, especially at the net," Hoosier coach Steve Aird told the Indiana Daily Student.
Now comes the hard part. Illinois visits undefeated No. 1 Nebraska on Thursday and then hosts No. 10 Penn State at Huff Hall on Saturday.
Too many places to look
The Indiana match was a good snapshot of why this team is a headache to prepare for. Madi Miles and Alyssa Aguayo each had 15 kills, and Paityn Chapman added 14 kills and 11 digs for her 11th double-double of the season. All three hit better than .380.
"Their outside hitters had a huge day, and we really couldn't turn the faucet off," Aird said.
Miles has been the surprise of the fall. The 6-foot-1 freshman from Fishers, Indiana, won two state titles at Hamilton Southeastern and was a 2025 Indiana Miss Volleyball finalist.
Her 15 kills in Bloomington matched her career high, a mark she's hit six times in the last eight matches, and she's averaging 3.22 kills per set. Alongside Aguayo, she's given Illinois two outsides who can take over a match.
Four Illini are now averaging more than three points per set. Chapman leads the way at 4.17, followed by Miles (3.38), Aguayo (3.24), and Taylor de Boer (3.01), who has moved into a reserve role as Miles has emerged.
Thursday: at No. 1 Nebraska
Nebraska is 25-0 and 14-0 in the Big Ten. The Huskers swept No. 12 Oregon and No. 18 Washington on the road last weekend to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten title, and a win Thursday would clinch it outright.
Through 23 matches, Nebraska led the country in both hitting percentage (.337) and opponent hitting percentage (.110). Then they hit .425 at Oregon and a season-high .477 at Washington.
Senior setter Bergen Reilly runs an attack that goes through Harper Murray, Virginia Adriano, and senior middle Andi Jackson. Dani Busboom Kelly has yet to lose a regular-season match as Nebraska's head coach.
Illinois' last win over Nebraska came on Oct. 27, 2018, when the No. 6 Illini knocked off the No. 9 Huskers in Lincoln. Last year's trip went 25-11, 25-15, 25-14 to the Huskers.
Saturday: vs No. 10 Penn State
Penn State (19-5, 11-3) hasn't lost since October 16, a seven-match run that most recently included a five-set win at then-No. 7 Wisconsin. Senior right side Kennedy Martin has come alive recently, matching a career-high 34 kills against Minnesota and passing 2,000 career kills.
The Nittany Lions play at Maryland on Wednesday, so Saturday will be their second road contest of the week.
Illinois' last win in the series was a 3-1 upset at Huff Hall on October 26, 2022. Penn State won last season's meeting in Champaign, 3-1.
What's at stake
This is the first year of the Big Ten Tournament, set for November 20-25 at the Fishers Event Center, which happens to be in Miles' hometown.
The top 15 of the league's 18 teams qualify, and Illinois has already clinched a spot. The top four seeds get a double bye into the quarterfinals, seeds five through nine get a single bye, and seeds 10 through 15 play on opening day. The champion earns the Big Ten's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Illinois is in a four-way tie at 9-5 with Washington, Purdue, and Minnesota. That's two games behind Oregon, Penn State, and Wisconsin at 11-3 and two games ahead of Michigan State, UCLA, and Indiana at 7-7, with three matches left for everyone. Illinois closes at Iowa (2-12) on November 17.
A double bye would take a lot. The best Illinois can finish is 12-5, which means winning in Lincoln, beating Penn State, and winning at Iowa. Even then, they would need help. Wisconsin, for one, closes against Rutgers, Ohio State, and Northwestern.
Sliding out of the bye group would take a lot, too. The teams at 7-7 spend the final week playing the teams Illinois is tied with: Purdue visits both Michigan State and Indiana, Minnesota hosts both, and Washington visits UCLA.
Where Illinois lands inside that five-through-nine range still matters. Under the tournament bracket, the eighth and ninth seeds play each other in the second round, and the winner draws the No. 1 seed in the quarterfinals.
So this weekend is about getting one. A split gets Illinois to 10 Big Ten wins and goes a long way towards locking in a bye. A winless weekend, and the conversation could get a lot more interesting.
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