The Illinois volleyball team spent all season waiting to peak in the NCAA tournament.

If Jocelynn Birks is any indication of the whole team, then the Illini are well on their way. 

In the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, Birks posted 14 and 23 kills against Murray State and Iowa State, respectively, and hit more than .400 in both matches. Her 23 kills in the three-set victory over Iowa State on Saturday set a career-high for kills in three sets. 

“We were out of system a lot, so I got the ball a lot,” Birks said. “The bench did a really good job of telling me where I could tip or swing to score. That’s always really helpful because, I can’t always see that with a huge block.”

While the numbers themselves were impressive, it was the manner in which Birks racked up those 23 kills that stood out to sophomore Danielle Davis. 

Against the Cyclones and Racers, Birks seemed to hit another gear as she unleashed some of her hardest swings of the season. Even when defenders would get their arms on a ball, it usually careened into the crowd or out of control. 

While Birks said she is doing everything the same as she has the whole season, Davis said Birks is hitting the ball harder than she ever has.

“She is, for sure,” Davis said. “Jocelynn is one of the strongest outsides in the Big Ten, if not the strongest outside in the Big Ten. She hits a heavy ball. I’ll play against her, (in practice) and it hits you hard.

“I don’t even know how else to say it, she just hits it really hard.”

Murray State was undersized as a team, with just one player taller than 5-foot-11, but Iowa State brought a physical presence and even utilized a triple block against Birks in the third set.

“They’re able to terminate against a great block,” Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said after the match Saturday. “You can do everything right, and they’re still going to get kills.”

Birks crossed into the 500 kills club for the season against Iowa State and is just five kills short of her career-high for a season. As it stands right now, Birks is 318 kills shy of Laura DeBruler’s program record for kills in a career; Birks and DeBruler are also the only players to top 500 kills in a season three different times.

“She has a range of shots that’s almost impossible to defend against,” Davis said. “When you’re going up against Jocelynn, you never know if she’s going to go for that hard four shot or if she’s going to go down the line and tool you or go hard in the seam.”

This season, Birks was named to the AVCA All-Region team and was unanimously voted All-Big Ten. 

In the Iowa State match, Birks recorded just three errors on 49 attempts, the sort of clean efficiency she has lacked at times in the past month. 

As the regular season wore on, Birks continued to put up solid overall numbers, but her efficiency waned down the stretch. In Birks’ final eight matches of the regular season, she hit more than .300 just once and was held to less than .200 three times.

“I think as the season has gone on, I’ve had some foot issues and things like that, but it’s actually getting a lot better,” Birks said. “Maybe it’s just that I’m feeling better.”

Birks has been a limited participant in Monday practices, which consists of light hitting, in order to keep her body fresh for more taxing practices during the week and then for the matches on weekends.

The Illini are now in the Sweet 16 and will face the SEC champion No. 8 seed Florida on Friday, a team that has won 22 straight matches.

With every match potentially being the last of the season, Birks took her game to another level in the first two rounds of the tournament and is looking to continue to carry the Illini offensively.

“She knows what time of the year it is and she’s laying it all on the floor,” Davis said. “You can tell by the way she practices, she’s not taking any swings off.”

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