For the Illinois volleyball team, it didn’t take long to exact their revenge – only three days, in fact.

Following a five-set disappointment against Northwestern on Wednesday, the Illini rebounded against the Wildcats at Huff Hall on Saturday, pulling out a four-set victory.

“We needed to be better passing and on offense. I thought we took steps forward in that,” senior Liz McMahon said.

Jocelynn Birks led the way with 14 kills and a season-high 21 digs for her fifth straight double-double and conference-leading 15th for the season. McMahon chipped in 14 kills, while Michelle Strizak filled in for Morganne Criswell in the third and fourth sets and finished with six kills.

“I thought we were much better offensively. We really struggled to score (Wednesday),” head coach Kevin Hambly said. “Jocelynn scored early, and I thought Lizzie did a good job of scoring late.”

In Evanston on Wednesday, it was the Wildcats who opened the match as the aggressors by winning the first two sets, but the Illini rolled in the first set on Saturday, taking it 25-15.

Illinois played stifling defense in the first set, particularly on Northwestern right side hitter Kayla Morin. The sophomore was held without a kill in the opening set and finished with 10 kills and nine errors. Morin produced against the Illini on Wednesday, tallying 15 kills on the match, but was not nearly as effective Saturday.

The Wildcats were led by Symone Abbott who had 13 kills with eight errors. Northwestern hit .071 as a team.

“We did a much better job on their two lefts (Morin and Abbott),” Hambly said. “I thought (Abbott) was bringing what she could really bring and we were still stopping her. Same with (Morin), I thought we did a great job blocking her and then picking up her shots.”

For the second consecutive match, Northwestern middle blocker Katie Dutchman was a non-factor. Entering Wednesday’s match, the senior was second in the conference in hitting percentage at .406. The Illini held her to eight kills in each of the two matches.

After the Illini cruised in the first set, the rest of the match was tightly contested. The Illini pulled out the second set 26-24 but gave away a lead late in the set. Illinois led 19-15 but allowed Northwestern to briefly take a 23-22 lead.

In the third set, Illinois held a slim 20-18 lead only to have Northwestern go on a run and take the set 25-22.

With a lead late in the fourth set, the Illini were determined to not let this lead, or the match, slip away. With a 19-16 lead, Illinois ran off six consecutive points to clinch the match.

“We knew what that team was capable of, so there was a sense of urgency to finish it out in four sets.” McMahon said.

Stephen can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter

@steve_bourbon.