The Illinois volleyball team that showed up for the start of last night’s match looked quite different than the team we saw over the weekend – and the team we’re used to seeing.
Illinois hadn’t lost a first set until last night when Wisconsin easily took it 25-16 – ending a program record 13 straight wins. The Illini committed eight errors in the set and had trouble finding their groove – they trailed by as many as 10 points.
They did, however, have senior outside hitter Jocelynn Birks back in the lineup after missing the previous two games with back pain – she contributed 20 kills to the match, with a majority of them coming in the last two sets.