_Editor’s note: The Daily Illini sports desk sits down Sunday nights and decides which Illinois athlete or coach is our Illini of the Week. Student-athletes and coaches are evaluated by individual performance and contribution to team success._

On Tuesday afternoon, Huff Hall was practically empty. Silent.

The first Illinois volleyball player to step inside the gym, dressed in Illinois blue and ready to go, was junior Annie Luhrsen.

She set up the net, rolled out carts of volleyballs and began setting drills.

Practice had yet to start, but Luhrsen was already working up a sweat.

“I know myself,” said Illinois’ starting setter. “I need to get those touches in, and know how it feels to make that right set. So I think it takes a lot of time. It takes failure. It takes figuring out what doesn’t work, and then you’re going to figure out what works best.”

Luhrsen’s teammates said she spends a lot of time in the gym doing the same drill over and over because that’s how she can best improve her game.

“She’s up here early setting and just the amount of reps — she’s a reps girl,” senior Michelle Bartsch said. “She needs as many reps, and I think that has helped her a lot.”

All that gym time seemed to pay off this past weekend, when Illinois had back-to-back wins against No. 12 Penn State and No. 25 Ohio State.

Illinois posted notably high hitting percentages: .340 against Penn State and .390 against Ohio State.

“I think that’s a direct reflection of how she’s been working, and how we’ve been working to perfect our offense,” Bartsch said.

Bartsch had 10 kills against Penn State and 13 kills, hitting .257, against Ohio State. But the offensive production was distributed evenly among the hitters throughout the weekend.

Freshman outside hitter Liz McMahon had a huge weekend, hitting .562 and then .455 the next match, totaling 22 kills over the weekend.

Head coach Kevin Hambly said McMahon’s performance was a product of Luhrsen executing well, and that Luhrsen’s weekend performance was the best he’d seen.

“She’s committed to try and work with the hitters to figure out the sets they want,” Hambly said. “She’s putting extra time in every day with (assistant coach David Kniffin) for about a half hour, where they’re getting more reps. She’s just a committed kid.”

This is Luhrsen’s first season as Illinois’ starting setter. The position came with plenty of patience.

After transferring from Connecticut, Luhrsen redshirted her sophomore year and didn’t receive much playing time last season because “her position coincided”:https://www.dailyillini.com/index.php/article/2011/08/haen_gone_luhrsens_time_to_shine_for_illini_volleyball with All-American Hillary Haen.

Luhrsen knew she would have to sit out two seasons if she wanted to play at Illinois, but also knew that she would get the playing time she wanted for the other two years.

With Luhrsen fresh into the lineup, the Illini needed to rebuild chemistry between the setter and hitters. Much of the season has been spent honing that connection.

“I really just wanted to do the best I could for the hitters,” Luhrsen said of the expectations entering the season. “As a setter, what you really want to do is help the hitters to reach their fullest potential. And I think that’s how a setter can reach her fullest potential.”

During practices, Luhrsen spends significant time working with each of her hitters, trying to see what works best for them.

Different hitters have different needs, and Bartsch, who in her four years as an outside hitter is part of the transition between Illinois setters, said Luhrsen caters to her hitters’ needs, not her own.

“Annie has improved so much since she’s been here and even just this season,” Bartsch said. “She will change to do anything, and she just wants to help us. And she’s probably one of the best setters that I’ve had that would do that. She’s not selfish at all.

She will change whatever you need, whatever you want she’ll do it. Even if she doesn’t think it’s right, she’ll say, ‘OK whatever you want.’”