Illinois volleyball (7-5, 2-0) hosted the No. 5 Purdue Boilermakers (11-1, 2-0) on Friday night and visited the No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday afternoon for their next round of Big Ten matchups. 

Led by freshman outside hitter Eva Hudson, the Purdue Boilermakers were the second highest ranked team in the conference, behind the No. 3 Nebraska Cornhuskers. Hudson leads the conference in kills per set with 5, which was a huge focus point for the Illini going into the match. 

Huff Hall was packed ahead of the first set against the Boilermakers. But while the energy was palpable, the Illini were unable to capitalize on it, as the Boilermakers dominated in their 25-17 first set win. Hudson took over, with four early kills that swung the momentum in favor of the Boilermakers. Junior outside hitter Raina Terry had four for the Illini.

The second set started as a much closer battle, but after a challenge went the way of the Boilermakers, the Illini fell behind big, as the Boilermakers once again took the set 25-17. Hudson had another stellar set with four more kills for the Boilermakers, while Terry had three more for the Illini.

Looking to avoid the sweep, the Illini fought hard and led for most of the third set before the Boilermakers stormed back from a 12-5 deficit. However that did not deter the Illini from keeping their composure, as they won the set 25-23 in a battle of attrition to stay alive in the match. 

As the Illini looked to even up the match, they held all the momentum and used the energy in Huff Hall to their advantage, as they leveled the match at 2-2 in a gutsy 25-17 set four win. Sophomore outside hitter Kayla Burbage helped lead the charge; racking up several kills late to seal the set.

An all-or-nothing set five decided the war between the Boilermakers and Illini, who came into the set with all the momentum as Huff Hall was rocking.  Unfortunately, for the Illini, the comeback effort came up just short, as the Illini had match point at 14-13, before losing 3 straight points to fall to the Boilemakers, 16-14 in 5 sets.

Sophomore libero Caroline Barnes spoke highly of the team’s resilience, even after the tough loss. After being down two sets, battling back brought her confidence.

“We know we can respond well,” Barnes said. “We know we have it in us to put up a fight, we’ve just gotta apply that from point one so we’re not digging ourselves out, [so] I’m confident in where we’re at.”

The Illini faced another challenge on Sunday at No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers, looking to build off the resilience displayed against the Boilermakers. The Badgers (8-3, 2-1) came in after a sweep against No. 12 Penn State Nittany Lions on Friday. 

The first set was a close battle as the Illini stunned the Badgers in a 27-25 first-set win. Redshirt freshman setter Brooke Mosher continued her stellar season as she had seven kills on 12 attempts, including the set clincher. Brown finished set one with 18 assists. Mosher added seven more kills. While the Illini looked to take a stranglehold lead on the match, the Badgers had different ideas as they leveled the match at 1-1 with a 25-20 win in set 2. 

Both teams looked to push their opponent to the brink as they battled it out through set three, with the Illini coming out on top in a 25-22 victory, to take a 2-1 set lead. Terry and Mosher led the way for the Illini, registering five kills each, while Brown registered another double-double..

The Illini looked to stun the Badgers in set four, but that attempt would have to wait, since the Badgers held on to win 25-19 and tie the match at 2-2 as transfer outside hitter Sarah Franklin began to heat up. 

In the pivotal set five, the Badgers ran away with the match in a 15-5 win to avoid the upset, as the Illini finished with eight attack errors in the set. The Illini sunk to 7-7 on the season and 2-2 in conference play with Sunday’s loss. Head coach Chris Tamas spoke highly of the team’s effort, despite the loss.

“You don’t want to lose like that in the fifth set,” Tamas said. “But again, we’re making progress and we’ve just gotta keep playing this way. I like how we’re playing, we just have to turn a few more points here and there.”

The Illini put up a resilient fight against both two top-10 teams this weekend, but the results didn’t show up in the win column. The Illini will now go on the road at .500 to College Park in a rematch against the Maryland Terrapins and then to No. 12 Penn State Nittany Lions next weekend. 

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