Illinois senior Rasa Virsilaite recorded a career-high 23 kills in her final college match as Illinois defeated Iowa in each teams’ season-finale 21-30, 30-26, 30-24 and 30-26 in Iowa City on Saturday.

The victory marked the third-straight winning season for the Illini, who finished the season 16-15 overall, 7-13 in the Big Ten.

While the final record may not be as good as in past seasons, Illini head coach Don Hardin said he is more proud of this year’s team than he has been of several past teams because of the challenges and adversity they have faced during the season.

“With everything we went through, all the injuries we had, to finish the season with a winning record like this is quite an accomplishment,” Hardin said. “The girls gave it their all every match; they never quit, and I’m really proud of that.”

In addition to Virsilaite’s career-night, fellow senior Rachel VanMeter and junior Beth Vrdsky also broke school records in the match. Only days after both had been honored with Big Ten Player of the Week awards, VanMeter broke Illinois’ single-season and career attacks record and Vrdsky broke the school’s single-season digs record.

Hardin said the records are a testament to the will of the team.

“The girls were so courageous, they gave a lot of heart to this team and the records show that,” he said.

As impressive as each players’ accomplishments are, Virsilaite’s performance against the Hawkeyes is even more astonishing considering she nearly did not play on Saturday.

Hardin said Virsilaite re-injured cartilage in her right knee at Minnesota on Friday night and was so sore Saturday morning he began to make lineup changes to replace her. In a game-time decision, Virsilaite responded with the best performance of her career.

“Both of our seniors played great,” Hardin said. “But Rasa’s performance was especially great because of what happened to her on Friday. I didn’t even know if she could play (Saturday) morning and for her to come out and do what she did was really remarkable.”

In Illinois’ other two matches during Thanksgiving break, the Illini defeated Indiana in three games in the season finale at Huff Hall on Nov. 18 and lost to Minnesota in three games on Friday.

The home victory against the Hoosiers marked the final matches at Huff Hall for VanMeter and Virsilaite. Hardin said the night was emotional for both girls, but it did not stop them from playing great volleyball.

“Down here at the end (of the season), both girls really wanted to go out with wins – and to go out when the rest of the team seemed to be playing better,” Hardin said. “They were sad about leaving, but they were happy that when they did leave they left the team on a positive note.”

While the Illini did not receive an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, Hardin said the season was still a success.

“I’m pleased with how our season ended. We didn’t win every game, but we started to play much better as a team,” he said. “Early in the year, whenever we’d be close in a match each player would seem to make a crucial mistake. But by the end of the year, each player seemed to come through. It should definitely help us for next year.”