While the 4,536 fans in Huff Hall on Saturday night broke Huff Hall’s attendance record, it was the streak-snapping performance on the court that means more for the No. 16 Illinois volleyball team.

Illinois (11-4, 3-1 Big Ten) lost to Wisconsin (12-2, 3-1) by scores of 25-17, 25-22, 11-25 and 25-23, ending a season-long, six-game home winning streak.

“We had chances to make plays, we just didn’t execute,” head coach Kevin Hambly said. “We just missed a couple things here and there to give us an opportunity to get into that fifth set.”

Hambly said he felt the team let Spike Squad (the Illinois student section) down because of the energy the Illini fans brought. Illinois was able to make the match competitive after a lackluster performance early on.

The Illini’s play compounded with a Badgers’ defense that compiled 18 digs in the first set. Illinois recorded a .000 hitting percentage — tallying nine kills and nine attack errors on the way to a Badgers first set win.

“We could’ve come out a lot stronger than we did,” sophomore middle blocker Katie Stadick said. “It took us a while to get into it.”

Hambly echoed Stadick’s statement. He said the Illini didn’t do “anything all that well,” in the first set. Hambly attributed the Illini’s slow start to the team’s emotions in the early going.

“We were rushing things, playing a little frantic and then cautious,” Hambly said, “It was a strange emotional setting on the floor that took us a while to work through.”

Illinois found its flow in the second set. The team bounced back to make the match competitive. The Illini and the Badgers had nine tie scores in the set and although Wisconsin eventually took the set, the Huff Hall fans saw an emotional change in the team as Illinois settled in.

The Illini’s change in attitude was evident early in the third set as the Illini battled back-and-forth with Wisconsin early in the set before pulling away.

With Wisconsin within a point at 11-10, Illinois began to build its run. The Illini ended the set on a 14-1 run to take the third set convincingly.

“After the third set, we all knew that it was good that we won but we had a long way to go,” junior outside hitter Jocelynn Birks said. “We were aiming to get that fifth set out of them.”

Birks led the Illini offensively on the night. She finished with 22 kills, 12 digs and a .340 hitting percentage ­— the highest on the team. Throughout the match, Birks seemed to be the driving force behind Illinois’ energy on the floor, trying to keep the team fired up and focused.

The fourth set seemed to be the most hotly contested of them all as the Badgers and the Illini fought back and forth to a tie at 23 points. Wisconsin remained collected despite back-to-back attack errors that tied the fourth set at 23. The Badgers pulled out the set and the match with consecutive points.

“We were just kind of waiting for them to make mistakes and they’re not going to do that,” Birks said. “They’re a great team and they were making plays on defense and working hard and we weren’t doing that for the amount of time that we needed to.”

Nicholas can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @IlliniSportsGuy.