A sea of orange and blue crowded the stands at Huff Hall Wednesday night as Illinois volleyball improved its season record to 6-0 in its home opener against Loyola.

1,519 fans attended the game, and the Illinois players seemed to feed off the crowd.

“The students were gigantic,” said head coach Don Hardin. “They were huge. This was the best student crowd we’ve had for a long time. I think they enjoyed it. I hope they come back, it’s really fun here.”

Last year, Loyola beat Illinois in the same week the Illini took down USC, the then-No. 1 ranked team in the nation. After the USC game, Illinois climbed to No. 9 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. The Loyola game knocked them to No. 13 in the rankings.

But the Illini were not about to let Loyola pull off a second upset, making quick work of the Ramblers, winning the match in three games (30-18, 30-22, 30-13).

Senior outside hitter Rachel VanMeter highlighted the match with 15 kills and four digs, while sophomore outside hitter Vicki Brown came up with seven kills, two of which capped off wins for Illinois and put down Loyola’s late-game comebacks.

“I thought Vicki came out very, very aggressive, maybe too aggressive and too fired up,” Hardin said. “She found her rhythm and tonight was one of her better performances. She started to get in the flow and in the rhythm of the game.”

Red-shirt sophomore setter Stephanie Obermier posted 28 assists for the match.

In the first game of the match, Loyola and Illinois went back and forth in a sequence that included five ties. The game was close until VanMeter came up with a huge kill putting the Illini up 12-10. Ilinois posted five unanswered points before Loyola head coach Marcie Bomhack called a timeout.

Loyola’s Hilary Stromath followed it up with a kill, making the score 17-11. It was all Illini the rest of the way, until Loyola made a run late in the game, making the score 29-19. Brown came up big with a powerful cross-court spike that ended the first game of the match.

The second game looked much like the first. The Illini stormed into the second game, taking a commanding lead before Loyola made yet another comeback. This time, VanMeter came up with two kills amidst chants of her name from the Spike Squad.

Loyola went on to tie the game 16-16, but after another VanMeter kill, an ace by Obermeier and a block by junior Meghan Macdonald, Illinois pulled ahead for good, 19-16.

Loyola freshman outside hitter Maria Schmitt tried to get the Ramblers back into the game with two straight kills, but Illinois put down yet another comeback and ended the second game on another kill by Brown.

In the third game, Illinois again let Loyola stick around early, but pulled ahead again and finally ended the game on a VanMeter kill.

Although Huff Hall was packed for the home opener Wednesday night, Hardin said the students have a lot to look forward to.

“If the students enjoyed tonight, just wait for Big Ten volleyball, it’s really something to see,” he said.