Welcome to “This Week in Illini Athletics,” a weekly review of the past week of Illini sports and a preview of the week to come.

#14 Football (7-1 Overall, 4-1 Big Ten)

Last Week: The Illini traveled to Nebraska to take on the CornHuskers last Saturday. With the game slated on primetime ABC, the Illini took care of business on the national stage. Was it pretty no, our offense saw some rough patches as the game developed. But this defense is something every team in the B1G should fear.

Final: Illinois 26 - Nebraska 9

Full Game recap:

This Week: Michigan State is coming to town, as the Illini seek to cast yet another spell on a B1G opponent.

Volleyball (11-11 Overall, 6-6 Big Ten)

Last Week: The volleyball team had an incredible weak with two massive wins to catapult them back to .500

• vs. #11 Penn State - Huff Hall was rocking for the anticipated matchup against highly ranked Penn State Wednesday night. It took time for both squads to find their footing as they shared points on the regular, it wasn’t until the Illini held a 15-13 lead that a squad was able to finally gain some traction. Illinois would go on to win 10 of the last 16 points to take the first set. Penn State took an early lead in the 2nd set, but it did not last long as the Illini went on a massive 6 point run to take a 14-6 lead. With the Illini 5 points away from a set win, the Nitty Lions would not go away. Illinois would hold on however, winning the set 25-20. Set 3 saw Penn State trying to fight to stay alive. When the Lions reached game point, the Illini went on a 6 point run but before they could make the pass Penn State shut the door; 23-25. With the match in a state of limbo, the Illini did not want to give Penn State the advantage. The Illini were one point away from knocking off No. 11 Penn State, but to only make things more interesting the Nitty Lions would go on a 4 point swing to make it within two. The ruckus would end after a Rylee Hinton kill that would set Huff Hall into a frenzy. Raina Terry would finish the match with 24 kills, giving the Illini a total of 27.5 points.

Set 1: ILL 25 - PS 19 | Set 2: ILL 25 - PS 20 | Set 3: ILL 23 - PENN 25 | Set 4: ILL 25 - PENN 23

Final: Illinois 3 - Penn State 1

• vs. Rutgers - Illinois traveled to New Jersey to take on a struggling Rutgers squad who is 1-10 in the Big Ten. Coming off the big Penn State win the Illini had to make sure they did not fall into a trap game. The first set was back and forth as they were trading points left and right till it was knotted up at 20 a piece. Rutgers would win 5 of the next 6 points to take the first set. The 2nd set was very much in control by the Illini as they were able to win the set with by a margin of 7. The Illini were firing on all cylinders in a 3rd set that featured a 9 point run by Illinois. Rutgers wasn’t able to break 12 points before Illini took the advantage. Behind the efforts Raina Terry, Kayla Burbage, & Brooke Mosher Illinois would go on to win the final the final set and the match.

Set 1: ILL 21 - RUT 25 | Set 2: ILL 25 - RUT 18 | Set 3: ILL 25 - RUT 12 | Set 4: ILL 25 - RUT 19

Final: ILL 3 - RUT 1

This Week: After a very successful week competition ramps up for the Illini. They will face off against #7 Wisconsin and #9 Minnesota.

Women’s Golf

This Week: The Women’s Golf team will be heading down to Coral Gables, Florida this week to compete in the Hurricane Invitational, hosted by the University of Miami. This will be the final event for the women’s golf team this fall.

#9 Men’s Golf

Last Week: In the team’s last event on the fall schedule, they competed at the Isleworth Collegiate at Isleworth Golf & Country Club in Windermere FL. They were able to place 3rd out of the 15 teams who competed. They were led by Adrien Dumont de Chassart (213(-3)) who placed 11th overall, along with Tommy Kuhl and Matthis Besard who shot a 214 (-2) 15th overall.

Women’s Tennis

Last Week: The Illini duo Kate Duong and Megan Heuser of Illinois racked up five of Illinois’ 15 wins across ITA Midwest Regional play. Those who have competed yet to be named include Emily Casati, Kida Ferrari, Kasia Treiber, Ashley Yeah and Josie Frazier. In doubles, Kate Duong and Megan Heuser defeated a Michigan duo to claim the title for doubles.

This Week: Those selected will compete in the ITA National Fall Championships in San Diego, CA.

Men’s Tennis

Last Week: The Men’s Tennis team hosted their own ITA Midwest Regional Championships here in Champaign over the course of last week. Those who competed for the Illini included Tyler Bowers, Alex Petrov, Kenta Miyoshi, Nic Meister, Oliver Okonkwo, Mathis Debru, and Lucas Horve. The highlight for Men’s tennis was Hunter Heck, who was able to advance to the final day of competition in the men’s singles semifinal.

Nic Meister and Tyler Bowers also competed at Notre Dame last week. They were able to gather a collective five wins in the Fighting Irish Invite.

This Week: Those selected will compete in the ITA National Fall Championships in San Diego.

Cross Country

Last Week: Illinois Men’s and Women’s cross country teams competed in the Big Ten Championships in Michigan last week. The Men’s team overall placed 6th behind Colin Yandel (24:37.3) who placed 18th overall. For the Women’s team they placed 9th overall, behind runner Emma Milburn (20:30.5) who placed 12th overall.

This Week: They will be training for the next two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Midwest Regional.

Women’s Swim & Dive

Last Week: They ladies split their time in two different pools as they competed at both UIC and Northwester. Against UIC they were able to win by a score of 223-70. It was a different story against Northwestern however as they would drop the Big Ten opener to 203-92. Top individual performances include Liv Dorshorst, who had personal bests in the freestyles, and Athena Salafatinos who contributed a pair of third place finishes in the 100 and 200 backstroke.

This Week: The Illini travel south to Florida International University to compete in the pool.

#23 Men’s Basketball (Exh. 1-0)

Last Week: The Men’s Basketball team faced off against Quincy university for their first matchup of the season. The boys were able to beat the Hawks to the score of 87-52.

This Week: They will have a week off before playing against Eastern University to open up their season.

Women’s Basketball (Exh.)

This Week: Much like the men, they will be playing against Quincy in their exhibition game to start off the year.

Wrestling

This Week: Wrestling will begin its season this week as they will travel up to Michigan State to compete in the Michigan State Open.