The Illinois women’s volleyball team kicked off its season last night at Huff Hall against Illinois State. The Illini defeated the Redbirds in convincing fashion, winning three games 30-21, 30-19 and 30-20.

Junior outside hitter Rachel VanMeter led the Illini with 20 kills, showing great development in her play compared with last season.

“As you get older, you have to make your game more consistent,” VanMeter said. “I definitely feel a lot more responsibility this year.”

Senior setter Erin Virtue thinks VanMeter has handled her new role well.

“Rachel has definitely stepped up as a leader and improved her game,” Virtue said. “She has come a long way and she’s handling it awesome.”

Head coach Don Hardin was pleased with VanMeter’s progress and her ability to fill the vacancies left from graduation.

“Rachel has really grown; she has really carried us and given us confidence as a team,” Hardin said.

Hardin was very happy with the results of the first game.

“It was as remarkable of an opening performance as I have seen at Illinois,” he said. “I don’t think I could be any happier with a home opener.”

Despite being a young team, the Illini played with the control of an experienced squad.

Senior outside hitter Jessica Bettler and freshman middle blocker Jen Hynds both chipped in with ten and eight kills, respectively.

Coach Hardin was impressed with Hynds’ play in her inaugural game.

“Jenn Hynds does not play like a true freshman,” Hardin said. “She made some all-out full court digs, and played just as well as anyone else.”

Virtue was happy with the performance of the backcourt.

“I definitely think we had a lot of control from our backcourt, and you could definitely see that tonight,” Virtue said.

The positive feedback for the Illini came from both sides of the net. Head coach Sharon Dingman said she was even more impressed by the Illini’s play tonight than in years past.

“I think Illinois is a better team this year than they were last year,” Dingman said. “That’s saying a lot considering it’s the same point in the year as last season, and we opened with them last year.”

Coach Hardin admitted that he was actually the most nervous person in the locker room before the game.

“I was way more nervous than the team,” Hardin said. “The team really settled me down.”

Despite coach Hardin’s pre-game nervousness, he was happy to get things rolling in the regular season.

“It was good to get the first win of the season for the new staff, and it was good to get the first win against a Division I team,” Hardin said.

The Illini’s next games are Friday and Saturday in a quickly put together tournament in Miami, Ohio.

SCHEDULE CHANGE

Although they were scheduled to play in Miami, Fla., this weekend, the C&C; Services Invitational was canceled because of hurricane Frances.

“We had to shuffle a lot of what we (were) going to do,” Hardin said.

With threat of losing potential chances to play, Hardin and his staff have worked to arrange games this weekend in Miami, Ohio, hoping to get in a game on Friday and two games on Saturday.

“This early in the year we need to play a lot of games,” Hardin said. “To stay idle early in the year could really hurt us later on.”