The Illinois Women’s Volleyball Team claims victory against Murray State and Iowa State in the first rounds of the NCAA Tournament. They are now heading into the Sweet Sixteen to take on #8 ranked Florida.
This past weekend, the Illinois Women’s Volleyball team dominated on their home court against Murray State University and Iowa State. Beating both teams in three matches advanced the team to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.
Going into the postseason, the Illinois volleyball team was ranked #9 for the NCAA Women’s Volleyball putting them as the second highest ranked team in the Big 10. Before this weekend they held an overall record of 24 wins and 7 losses.
The Illini took on the Murray State Racers Friday evening at Huff Hall. The Racers held an overall record of 26 wins and 5 losses in the OVC conference.
Jocelynn Birks, the junior outside for Illini, played incredible offense and defense with 14 kills and 9 digs for the entire game.
Alexis Viliunas, the junior setter for the Illini, had 34 assists throughout the Friday night match with Brandi Donnelly, the freshman DS, helping her out with 15 digs.
Overall, the Illini had a total of 42 kills, 41 assists, 40 digs, and 9.5 blocks with Murray State lagging a little behind in every category.
The Illini’s talent and aggressive play helped them take down Murray State 3-0 (25-20, 25-5, 25-17), which advanced them to the second round of the tournament to play against Iowa State Saturday night.
Once again having the home court advantage, the Fighting Illini took down the Cyclones which will advance them to the Sweet Sixteen for the fifth time in Coach Kevin Hambly’s six years of coaching.
Though Illini beat Iowa 3-0, the opposing team did not go down without a fight. Each match was a race to 25 with final scores of 27-25, 25-18, and 25-18.
Birks topped her Friday night offense with an amazing 23 kills. Clearly, this girl was on her game this past weekend. Her momentum carried over to her teammates, while Villunas had 41 assists, Davis had 15 digs, and Donnelly had 12.
Before this powerhouse team stole the show in the first and second rounds of the tournament, I had the pleasure of talking with Coach Hambly about his anticipation for the tournament and his reflection of this past season.
Coach Kevin Hambly has an impressive history with his volleyball career. He played in college at Brigham Young University and continued on to play professionally in Montpellier, France. His coaching career started at Highline Volleyball Club in California. Hambly founded the Rebel Volleyball Club in Las Vegas and a men’s volleyball club at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Upon leaving UNLV, he became the assistant coach for the USA national volleyball team in addition to coaching the USA Women’s National Training Team.
Lucky for Illinois, Hambly came to the university in 2004 and served as the assistant coach under Don Hardin. He became head coach in 2009.
Over the past six years, Coach Hambly has had a total of 140 wins, including this past weekend matches. The Illinois Women’s Volleyball team has not had as impressive of an overall record the past two years as this 2014 season. I asked Coach Hambly what has changed to explain the improvement.
“We essentially have the same team, but now we are more experienced. Last year, we had a tough schedule. We had a good team, but many of the teams we played went to the Sweet Sixteen. Our record wasn’t a good indication of talent”
Coach Hambly went on to say, “Towards the end of last year, we learned to win. This year has just been building on that. Last year we learned to play, compete then win.”
The head coach praised his players in their growth as teammates. He is incredibly proud of how the girls take care of each other and the culture of the volleyball program as a whole. Even with their big wins against teams like Penn State and Nebraska, the way the girls operate as a team in the most important thing.
Even before a weekend of victory, Coach Hambly was confident in his team and their abilities.
“We are playing our best volleyball right now. We have confidence and believe that we can play and beat anyone in the country. That’s where our heads are. Being the best team we can be a still pushing to be better”
Clearly, this coach has the upmost faith in his team and believes they can go the distance. With their performance this past weekend, us in Illini nation can only believe the same.
Make sure to keep up with the Illinois Women’s Volleyball team has they head into the Sweet Sixteen. Illinois is scheduled to play Florida, who is ranked #8 in the NCAA tournament on December 12th at 8 p.m.