Champaign, Ill. - When you think of rivalries at the junior college level, you probably don't get too far down the list before you come up with ICC - Parkland. The Cougars Volleyball team (17-9) and #3 Cobras (32-3) write the 48th chapter of the rivalry's volleyball history. It comes on the heels of their last meeting, when the Cougars won a thriller to knock off the then top-ranked Cobras in five sets in March 2021, which was also the first indoor match that events at Illinois Central College was able to allow fans since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

When you look at the all-time series, it doesn't look exactly close, with the Cougars holding a (32-15) advantage from 1984 until this past spring season. However, Parkland had won the last six consecutive meetings and nine of the last 10 meetings prior to their loss in East Peoria. 

While the Cougars certainly have a reputable win over the Cobras from when they were ranked #1, there is still some historical notes to be achieved. Parkland has not dropped consecutive meetings in the series since a five-match slide from 2002-2004. 

The past two meetings have both gone the full five sets, with Parkland winning at Nationals in 2019. 

2004 comes up again when you see that the Cougars haven't won in Champaign since that '04 season. 

There is certainly an extensive history between these two programs, but for more on how this year's teams match up, we revive the "Tale of the Tape" statistical rundown. You can scroll down a brief ways for that. 

Another key point within the ICC - Parkland match is that if the Cougars win, they take sole possession atop the Region 24 standings, as #3 Parkland and #9 Heartland both would have one Region loss.

The Cougars also play D3 Joliet after the in-region Parkland match. The Wolves recently dropped out of the Division-III rankings after either being ranked or receiving votes for a majority of the season thus far. Joliet is (13-9) and has only played one similar opponent to the Cougars, that being a 0-3 loss to D3 #1 Rock Valley, who the Cougars will eventually travel to on October 16th.

Category	ICC	PC
Overall Record	17-9	32-3
Region 24 Record	7-0	10-0
Kills (Per Set)	1,034 (11.2)	1,495 (13.4)
Digs (Per Set)	1,432 (15.6)	2,258 (20.2)
Blocks (Per Set)	160 (1.7)	410 (3.7)
Assists (Per Set)	979 (10.6)	1,426 (12.7)
Aces (Per Set)	175 (1.9)	313 (2.8)
Kills Leader (# / Per Set)	H. Alvey (287 / 3.1)	K. Blase (271 / 2.8)
Digs Leader (# / Per Set)	H. Allen (380 / 4.2)	J. Hess (561 / 5.9)
Blocks Leader (# / Per Set)	G. Schultz (93 / 1.0)	K. Blase (213 / 2.2)
Assists Leader (# / Per Set)	B. Ely (428 / 4.8)	S. Young (1,168 / 11.8)
Aces Leader (# / Per Set)	H. Alvey (31 / 0.3)	K. Blase (50 / 0.5)