After compiling a 24-7 (15-5 Big Ten) record in the regular season, Illinois volleyball earned a No. 9 national seed in the NCAA Tournament and the chance to play the first two rounds at Huff Hall. But before they can start to think about round two, the Illini face the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Friday.

Even though the Panthers play in the Horizon League, Illinois has plenty of connections with the UW-Milwaukee program. This past spring, the Fighting Illini partnered with the Panthers to put on a volleyball clinic for elementary school students in Chicago. The teams also had a chance to scrimmage following the clinic.

“Our players got a ton out of it, just helping and learning a different side in the fact that we could do something together and still be competitive,” UW-Milwaukee head coach Susie Johnson said. “It’s kind of ironic that we’re playing against each other when we did that clinic. I think that, in a sense, has helped us to play them now because we sort of saw them in the spring.

“They were really good in the spring, I thought,” Johnson added.

But the connections don’t end there. Illinois volunteer assistant coach Melissa David spent her playing days at UW-Milwaukee, where she was an All-Horizon League performer in 2006. The history won’t affect David’s feelings come Friday, though.

“I obviously want them to be successful, but I’m with Illinois now, so I definitely want to win,” David said. “I want to take this program as far as it can go, so (I’m) definitely Orange and Blue on Friday.”

Johnson, who was David’s assistant coach in Milwaukee, isn’t blowing the situation out of proportion either.

“Some of her friends are still on our team now, so I think they had some texts that went back and forth with talking some smack so that was sort of funny,” Johnson said.

The Panthers earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament after winning the Horizon League Tournament and clinching the league’s regular season crown for the sixth straight year, all while compiling a 23-8 record.

As the lone senior on the roster, outside hitter Becky Peters has led the way for the Panthers with 431 kills and 385 digs. And junior libero Lauren Felsing paces the defense with 630 digs.

“They’re a very, very good defensive team and that’s gotten them where they are,” said Illinois head coach Don Hardin, who announced Monday he would retire at the end of the season. “It may be hard to score on them and we can’t lose our patience.”

For their part, the Illini are looking at the weekend as though it were no different than a regular Big Ten weekend, focusing on Milwaukee first and hoping they will still be playing after Friday night.

“We know that every match is do or die, but we can’t look at it that way. We have to take it one step at a time, one point at a time,” sophomore middle blocker Johannah Bangert said. “Like the Big Ten, we would take it one night at a time, just look at Friday night before we even looked at who we were playing Saturday, so that’s what we’re doing now also. We’re just focusing on UW-Milwaukee.”

In what may be Hardin’s last night coaching at Huff Hall, the Illini want to put on a good performance for their fans and their coach.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for fans to come out and see Don coach here one last time and see us in the awesome position that we’re in right now, but I don’t think that it’s going to affect or put any more pressure or make us any more nervous or anything like that,” outside hitter Kylie McCulley said.

The team knows this isn’t the time to change its game plan.

“We can’t be afraid to lose. It’s a great year, and it’s a great year because we’re not worried about outcome. Why start now?” Hardin said. “If we can stay in the groove and just keep our focus on our execution and getting better, who knows how far we’ll go.”