A weekend that started with a loss to a team that Illinois swept at Huff Hall ended up being one that head coach Don Hardin classified as a huge road weekend.

Friday night, the Illini were in East Lansing, Mich., for a match against the Michigan State Spartans. When Illinois first faced the Spartans, the one-sided affair only went three games, even while the Illini were in the middle of their injury plague.

This time, the Spartans were looking for revenge. They found it behind a strong night of offense. Illinois helped the Spartans by leaning away from the execution that led them to a win over Ohio State last weekend.

“Michigan State played one of those inspired matches that we’ve seen from our team at Huff,” Hardin said. “They passed really well Friday, when they played at our place their passing kind of broke down. They ran quick sets that we weren’t able to adjust to.”

Michigan State took the first game against the Illini despite 12 ties or lead changes. While Illinois would end up taking a game from the Spartans, it wasn’t enough to pull out the match – Illinois lost 3-1.

During the weekend, outside hitter Jessica Belter continued her yearly assault on the state of Michigan as she found herself again amongst the team leaders. She tallied 17 kills and hit well above her season average. The kill leader for the night, and for the weekend, was Rachel VanMeter. She had 24 kills against Michigan State and 46 on the weekend.

Saturday, while playing a tough Michigan team, Illinois came back to take the match and salvage the weekend. Illinois was led again by VanMeter, who finished the night with 22 kills.

“Rachel fought all night and all weekend. I am really proud of the progress she has made,” Hardin said. “That is as mature a fighting effort and composed performance that I’ve ever seen from any player.”

Illinois beat the Wolverines 3-1 and snuck out an important road win. The Illini were aided by Michigan committing eight service errors as well as inspirational team play.

“This was probably our best road win of the year so far,” Hardin said. “That’s a great sign for having three freshmen on the court playing a lot like we do. This was a gut check, a fighting type of effort tonight. It wasn’t just performance-related; this was just gutting it out and digging in deep to challenge ourselves.”