CHAMPAIGN – When Illinois volleyball head coach Chris Tamas arrived in Champaign in 2017, Jordyn Poulter was already a well-established Illini star with a national reputation. Part of Tamas' job was to keep a player with sights set on playing on the internationalstage.
"When we got Jordyn, I knew she had a higher goal to play for the national team," Tamas said. "So we really kind of leaned into running fast in Year Two, and we had pieces around her to do it."
Looking back on the beginning of his head coaching career offered a moment to come full circle to this year's Illinois team too. The approach that Tamas and his staff deployed inhis second year to push their star setter is one they're now using again in Year Eightto push star outside hitter Raina Terry.
"We're getting back to that a little bit right now" Tamas said. 'We're running with more speed than we have been in the past. I've got players like Raina that want to play pro, and she's gotta get used to that, too. It's really still about maximizing, you know, what we've got on the floor and being able to work with the personnel each year."
Poulter, a two-time Olympian, was back in Champaign this weekend, catching the team's straight-sets win over Maryland (10-7, 1-7 Big Ten) on Sunday, the fifth straight victory for Illinois (13-5, 5-3 Big Ten). On Saturday, with her two Olympic medals (one gold and one silver) hanging from her neck,Poulter was honored at Memorial Stadium during the third quarter of Illinois football's 21-7 win over Michigan the day before.
"It's fun to be re-submersed into the history of Illinois," Poulter said. "When I was here, we made history and it's been fun to make history beyond my time here."
Added Tamas: "It's not every day that you get to have a two-time Olympian come back, one that you coached, and one that you have a lot of respect for."
Poulter graduated in 2018, but the current group of Illinois players have strong impressions of her, partly thanks to the coaching staff. While Tamas says that the recruiting cycles for setters differ from those for pin hitters, being able to say that you coached an Olympian does help.
"It's really inspiring, honestly, because [it's the] same coaching staff," freshman Laynie Smith said about Poulter's homecoming at Huff. "It just like, confirms that I can make it there if I work hard. I just find that really inspiring."
When asked what he told his current group of players about Poulter, Tamas didn't shy away from praising her while also using her as an example.
"Every single rep, I couldn't tell you if it was right before the Final Four or the first practice of the season," Tamas said. "It was always. She put in the work and went one hundred. It's hard to do, and I tell the team that's the hardest thing to do is to bust your ass every single day and give it all you've got because this game moves fast. It happens quick, it's dynamic, but she really put in the work."
Tamas arrived at Champaign at the halfway point of Poulter's collegiate career, when he replaced former head coach Kevin Hambly, who is currently at Stanford.Tamas and Poulter both said that her senior year in 2018, when the Fighting Illini reached the Final Four for just the fourth time in school history, is something that didn't come easy.
"I don't know that, on paper when I was here, we should have been as successful as we were," Poulter said. "But we were able to collectively kind of buy into this idea of, 'Hey, we're all putting in this much effort and time, so why not try to go do something?'"
Added Tamas: "The big thing that I always appreciate about her is that she's real. That's the feeling surrounding Poulter, a larger-than-life figure at Illinois, who before, after, and even during Sunday's game was approached by several Illinois fans for pictures.
Poulter is a celebrity at Huff Hall. She was a two-time All-American while at Illinois from 2015-18 and was named the Big Ten Setter of the Year in her senior season. She's been a setter for Team USA at the last two Olympics, earning gold at Tokyo in 2021 and silver at Paris this past summer.
While silver is a podium step below gold, Poulter says that it felt more earned than the gold three years prior. That's because Paris almost wasn't a possibility for the Naperville (Ill.) native. In December 2022, Poulter suffered a knee injury that, to many athletes across many sports, could be career-ending. She tore her ACL, MCL, PCL, and meniscus in her left knee, but she made a full recovery in time for this year's Games.
"I didn't know what my chances of being able to make the roster and play at a high level and be what the team would need out of the two setters," Poulter said. "I didn't know if that would be attainable.
"I had never taken that much time off from volleyball, and it was like, 'I have no idea how I'm gonna come back.' And don't get me wrong. There were a lot of days in those early months that it was tough, but when you've been playing for as long as I have, since eight years old, it kind of feels like riding a bike a little bit."
Tamas is no stranger to injuries. In recent years, the injury bug has bit him hard, running his depth thin in front-row positions. This season, senior libero/defensive specialistCaroline Barnes medically retired due to a third concussion suffered in the past year. Barnes is the fourth Illinois player to medically retire in the last three seasons, and Poulter shared her injury story with the Illini squad.
"It's common for athletes to go through that," Tamas said. "It was really good to hear it from her and I know the team really appreciated meeting her as well."
"She's an awesome person, and she's a great competitor, I hear nothing but great things about her," Terry said of Poulter. "I wish I'd gotten the chance to play with her, but maybe one day. Maybe one day."
That day could come sooner than later for Terry, whose 2024 season will be her last of collegiate volleyball. Poulter is signed to play for Salt Lake Volleyball in League One Volleyball (LOVB), which is slated to kick off its inaugural season in January. The league, which has been in the makings since 2020,takes an approach to professional volleyball unlike other leagues that have come and gone, according to Poulter.LOVB uses a 'community-up model', according to their website, which ties pro teams to local junior volleyball clubs. Terry and current Illinois setter Brooke Mosher are LOVB student-athletes, meaning a roster spot in the fledgling league could be a real possibility soon.
"No one's ever gone about it in this grassroots way. It's a really exciting time for volleyball in America, Poulter said, mentioning Nebraska volleyball breaking a world record for attendance at a women's sporting event with 90,000 filling the stands at Memorial Stadium last year. "I was fortunate to witness that. Just this wave of momentum that women's sports are riding in general, you see the rise of women's basketball ... we are next, and we're hoping to be the next major professional league in America."
Earlier this year, ESPN secured media rights agreements for LOVB matches. Poulter believes that the emergence of a domestic league could not just provide growth for the sport, but also for its athletes.
"It gives them the opportunity and the option, right?" Poulter said. "We never had an option before. If you wanted to continue playing or see how far you could make it as a pro, it was either you stop completely or you go live eight months overseas and you're away from your friends and family."
Since graduating from Illinois in 2018, Poulter has played professional volleyball in Italy's Serie A1.
"Hopefully, being able to stay on home soil and get those same benefits will, I think, not only grow the sport of volleyball but also make us better as a national team," she said.