When USC head coach Mick Haley said Illinois would be a target after its stunning upset over his No. 1 ranked team, he wasn’t kidding. The Loyola Ramblers put the Illini right in their scope, and their aim was true, picking off the No. 9 ranked Orange and Blue in five games.

“Loyola always targets us anyway,” Illinois head coach Don Hardin said. “There is no question that Coach Haley was right, but Loyola would have targeted us anyway.”

The Illini fell for the first time this season, moving them to 5-1 on the year, but the team the Illini put on the floor was not the same as the one that looked like a top 10 team in the first five matches. Because of a few key injuries in Monday’s practice, the Illini had to put key players in positions they are not accustomed to playing.

“Everything that could have gone wrong Monday did,” Hardin said. “We were still all hyped up after the USC win and didn’t practice well. We weren’t as ready as we could have been, and to make it worse, Jen Hynds got injured.”

The injury is said to be day-to-day, but for the night it was the difference between putting out the regular lineup and the makeshift squad.

“Not to take anything away from Loyola because they played great, but we had to move Rachel VanMeter to middle blocker and shift some players around. And with switches like that, you are bound to take some licks.”

The Illini tried to cope with the new rotations but weren’t able to find their groove, committing 14 hitting errors in the first two games alone and hitting a measly .045 in the first game.

With two-time tournament MVP Rachel VanMeter adjusting to life in the middle, outside hitters Jessica Belter and Rasa Virsilaite did pick up the slack, scoring 17 and 16 kills respectively.

In the third and fourth games the Illini showed signs of life – showing the defense that had earned them five early wins – forcing the Ramblers into hitting .088 and .026. But with the shifts in the lineup, the Illini couldn’t maintain that pace for long, losing in the fifth game, 15-13.

“We really fought back with good effort, especially with such an unorthodox lineup,” Hardin said. “Tonight, Loyola was just able to do no wrong.”

The loss to unranked Loyola shows how impressive a feat it was for USC to win 52 matches straight.

The Illini travel to Arkansas to take part in the C&C; Services Invitational on Sept. 17 and 18, with matches against Houston, Ball State and Arkansas.