CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) – Graduate senior Kayla Burbage is back for one last ride with Illini volleyball.

Burbage played in 30 matches her sophomore season, then 30 more as a junior. However, after finishing third on the team in kills in 2023, a shoulder injury requiring surgery sidelined her for her senior year in 2024.

Now, the Clayton, N.C. native is back and ready to return to action.

Burbage will play her final year of college as a middle blocker, a move from opposite/outside hitter in previous seasons.

“She jumped back into practice and, long story short, started dominating everyone in the middle,” Illinois head coach Chris Tamas said at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago on Monday. “She looked at us like ‘Yeah, I like this a lot.'”

“The transition has been great,” Burbage said, citing her experience in the middle from club ball in high school. “I love it… It just feels natural to be back there… Everything feels fluid and I’m ready to go for the season for sure.”

Interestingly enough, volleyball wasn’t always the favorite sport of the impactful Illini veteran.

“I played pretty much any sport you can think of besides volleyball up until high school,” she said. “I’m from North Carolina, so I kind of got tired of wearing hot softball pants in like the 90 degree heat. So I switched over to volleyball, pretty much immediately fell in love with it. My family loves it. My sister plays now… It is the ultimate team sport and I think it’s just so fun to really have a bunch of people together that are all working towards a common goal. So I think that was the thing that really attracted me to volleyball.”

Illinois was picked to finish ninth in the Big Ten on the conference’s preseason poll.