Big Ten Release
Rosemont, Ill. – After sweeping through the Illini Classic over the weekend, the No. 8 Fighting Illini were honored with three individual weekly awards by the Big Ten Conference. Illini Classic MVP Michelle Strizak headlines the group by earning Big Ten Player of the Week, Brandi Donnelly was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and Jordyn Poulter is the first Big Ten Freshman of the Week of the year.
They become the first ever Illini trio to earn three awards for the same week since the Big Ten began doling out Big Ten Freshman of the Week in 2009. Penn State is the most recent team to achieve the feat, earning player, setter and freshman awards on Nov. 17, 2014.
Making just her second career start as a junior on opening night, Strizak quickly established her dominance on the outside, leading the match with 13 kills and just one error to hit .429 with two blocks against Louisville. The Cincinnati native went on to go 5-for-9 without an error in the first set against Miami (Ohio), then tied her career high with 15 kills, hitting .433 against Creighton to finish the weekend with 33 kills and a .448 hitting percentage, averaging 4.71 kills per set.
"I thought Michelle played great," said head coach Kevin Hambly. "She played extremely efficient; she got blocked a couple of times but only hit the ball out of bounds once and it was on an out-of-system ball. She scored at a really high rate.
"Her and Jordyn's connection was great, and she was flying around and hitting shots. We've been working hard to make her a better scorer and add some things to her game. I thought she was showing her full complement of skills, which was great to see."
Poulter becomes the third Illini since the award began in 2009 to earn Big Ten Freshman of the Week after her first career match, joining teammates Alexis Viliunas (Oct. 15, 2012) and Maddie Mayers (Sept. 2, 2013). The Aurora, Colorado, native averaged 11.4 assists per set with two double-doubles in her first weekend for the Orange and Blue. The 6-foot-2 setter stuffed five blocks on opening night, then led the Illini to an efficient .414 hitting percentage against Miami. She finished the weekend by tallying 34 assists, 10 digs, four kills and two solo blocks against Creighton, becoming the driving force behind the Illini's come-from-behind win in the third set.
"Jordyn I thought worked her way up to being a good setter for the weekend," said Hambly. "She struggled early when the game was big, but then things started to slow down and I think by the end of it she was pretty special."
A three-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week honoree in 2014, Donnelly earns her first career Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award after leading the Big Ten by a long shot with an average of 5.44 digs per set. The sophomore libero put up 23 digs and went a perfect 17-for-17 on serve receive on opening night against Louisville. The 23 digs rank fifth all time at Illinois in three-set matches and are second only to her own performance against Minnesota last season during the rally-scoring era. The following morning, she put up seven assists to help the Illini to one of their best hitting percentages in team history (.414) against Miami and finished the weekend with 15 digs against Creighton.
"Brandi was Brandi," said Hambly. "I mean she's just steady. I think she's had better matches, better weekends, but she's going to dig a lot of balls and make a lot of plays; it's just what we expect. I don't think she did anything above our expectations because we have such high expectations for her. I think she could win this award every week, really, because of the kind of defensive player that she is."
After going a perfect 9-0 in sets at home on opening weekend, the Fighting Illini embark on an unprecedented 12-match road string beginning this Friday, Sept. 4, with a matchup against No. 2 Stanford at 4 p.m. Saturday's match with No. 24 Colorado will air live on the Big Ten Network beginning at 4:30 p.m. CT.
"Recognition and winning the tournament, I don't think they think much about any of that stuff," said Hambly. "I just think they're trying to become a great team. But the fact that they were able to pull out some tight sets and not give one up does give them a little more confidence. We're going to be really tested this weekend with both these teams that are coming up, and I hope we can keep that confidence and maybe gain a little bit more."
