A few key injuries have made Illinois’ goals harder to achieve, but the inconsistency of their play is making it even tougher.

After splitting another weekend, winning the match at Northwestern and dropping the one at Wisconsin, the lapse in play is being magnified for a team with high preseason aspirations.

“Our play was sporadic; sometimes it was excellent but that had times in between where we didn’t play as well,” Illinois head coach Don Hardin said. “We had times of Jekyl and Hyde.”

In the first game of the weekend, Illinois swept Northwestern 3-0, getting off to a hot hitting night capped by middle blocker Meghan Macdonald tallying 11 kills in only 12 swings. The Illini were able to finish off the Wildcats and move to 10-2 on the season without receiving a challenge until the third match. Illinois won by a combined 22 points in the first two games and only three in the third.

“To go on the road with a freshman setter and several other young players and win in this conference is always big,” said Illini head coach Don Hardin. “I was really proud of how our team responded right from the opening of the match.”

The Illini should have been able to take the momentum from a well executed game against the Wildcats into Wisconsin, but they showed up to Madison and left the execution at home.

“We misfired a lot and our ball control took a nosedive,” Hardin said. “The game tonight was sloppy. I am happy with how they work. They are a very tight group and work together very well, but you can’t get used to inconsistency.”

Against Wisconsin, the hitters had the nights that they wanted, but ball control problems cursed the Illini. Both Jessica Belter and Rachel VanMeter finished the night with 19 kills but went home unhappy after losing the match 1-3. The Badgers were able to jump out to early leads, only to see the Illini fight back late in each game. But with Wisconsin’s block, it was too late.

Hardin said that going into the next game, they have found aspects of their game to work on, and that it is important to stay healthy and keep moving forward.

“Although it’s not all right, it can be expected that at this point in our season we are going to have our up and downs,” Hardin said.