Kevin Hambly isn’t one for making dramatic speeches.

The head coach for the Illinois volleyball team says they don’t necessarily work in motivating a team. The Illini (5-3) are still searching for answers on how to bring consistent energy to the court heading into this weekend’s Creighton Classic.

“I could give them a ‘Win one for the Gipper’ speech and try and get them fired up, but I think that’s hollow,” Hambly said. “I think it’s more of them deciding of when they’re going to come out with energy.”

Hambly cited a lack of energy in a loss last weekend to Virginia Tech. The team’s record has been directly tied to its willingness to bring energy to the court, regardless of what team is across the net.

“We talk about how it has to happen all the time, not just a match day thing,” middle blocker Anna Dorn said. “What we really focus on is reminding each other all the time during practice is to bring energy to drills or when we’re competing in practice. It has to become a habit, it’s not quite there yet.”

The Illini will face Creighton (6-4) on Friday night before a doubleheader against Colorado (8-1) and South Dakota (4-5) on Saturday.

Colorado rolls into the weekend on a blistering hot streak — the Buffaloes have won eight matches in a row after dropping their season opener to Northwestern in five sets. Opposite side hitter Ali Stark admitted there is an added danger to facing a team on a winning streak.

“I think it’s definitely going to be a challenge for us,” Stark, a junior, said. “They’re going to be hot. We can’t get sucked into playing the way they play, we need to make them play the way we want them to play.”

Creighton opened the season ranked at No. 23 but is 0-3 against ranked teams this season. The Bluejays are led by middle blocker Kelli Browning, who leads the team in both kills and hitting percentage on the season. The Illini have already faced one of the nation’s top middles in the country: Stanford’s Inky Ajanaku. When the teams faced off on Sept. 7, the junior got loose for 16 kills with a .500 hitting percentage on the match.

Hambly said the strategy for shutting down a premier middle comes down to the Illini’s serving. 

“Middles are tough or they can be really easy, depending on how the team passes,” Hambly said. “If you can serve the way you want to, you can take them out of the game. If you can’t, you’re in trouble.”

These are the last matches before Big Ten play opens up for the Illini. One of the reasons Hambly perennially schedules one of the toughest slates in the country is to learn lessons each week before the grind

of Big Ten play.

“Every week, you’re adding pieces and learning lessons,” he said. “Sometimes you don’t know what the lessons are, but you’re just looking for the opportunity to teach.” 

Last week’s lesson centered on energy. This week’s lesson is to be determined. 

“I don’t know what Colorado is going to teach us, I don’t know what Creighton is going to teach us, but they’re going to teach us something.”

Stephen can be reached at [email protected] and @steve_bourbon.