After starting the season, 6-0 Illinois volleyball (8-5, 0-3) has hit a rough patch, having dropped its last three matches. This third loss came Thursday night against No. 2 Nebraska. The other two defeats came at the hands of No. 11 Oregon and No. 25 Washington.

Illinois was swept in all three losses. The result leaves Illinois as one of six squads yet to win a conference match.

Both graduate student outside hitter Raina Terry and junior outside hitter Averie Hernandez put up over 10 kills against Nebraska. Terry put up 13 kills and also recorded her third double-double on the season. She finished the night with 10 digs. Hernandez put up 11 kills Thursday, with seven in the second set.

“I think my teammates trusted me and put me in good situations, and I give them full credit for playing with the confidence they played with,” Hernandez said. “I think that also rubbed off on me, and I was able to go out there and take confident swings … it felt good.”

The Illini have now lost their last 10 matches against the Cornhuskers. Their last win over them came in 2018. This loss also marks head coach Chris Tamas’ 12th loss against Nebraska.

“I thought we came out of the gates pretty good,” Tamas said following the game. “Even through that second set, I thought we had a pretty good beat on them. We just couldn’t convert a few plays. They converted a few of the longer rallies, which can crush you a little bit. But, I like how we played overall.”

The game also featured a family affair, as Illinois senior setter Raegen Reilly faced off against her sister, sophomore setter Bergen Reilly. Bergen Reilly played a smaller, but important role in Nebraska’s win. She finished with three kills and eight digs. 

“It’s bittersweet and it’s a lot of fun, but obviously I always wanted to cheer for her (Bergen) too,” Raegan Reilly said. 

Illinois started the game swinging and went on a 4-0 run. Each team had to fight tooth and nail for every point that was scored. Illinois, despite being swept, never lost a set by more than eight points.

Nebraska returned the favor to Illinois, out-scoring them 6-1 to take their first lead. A game of runs was the theme, as Illinois responded to cut its deficit by going on a 7-3 run.  

Nebraska finished too hot despite multiple Illinois timeouts and took the set 25-18. The opponents played clean on Thursday and didn’t commit a service error until the third set, while Illinois had 11 total on the night. Six of them came after just the first set.

Set two began with both teams having 4-1 runs a piece. The Illini seemed to have the edge when redshirt junior setter Brooke Mosher got to the service line. Then, they took a 12-8 lead from a 6-0 run. 

Reilly helped Illinois have a 4-0 run to get to a 21-19 lead. However, this was not enough. Even with the seven kills Hernandez had in this set, Illinois still fell, 25-22. 

Illinois hoped to take set three after both teams started back-and-forth with scoring. The home team ended up gaining some ground with a 4-0 run. This run caused Nebraska to burn a timeout to try and regroup. The packed Huff Hall was loud, but the team couldn’t reward them.

The timeout was enough for Nebraska, and they grabbed the lead 13-11 after a 5-1 run. Nebraska had all the momentum and pushed the lead to four with a 19-15 score. 

Illinois responded to cut the deficit down to three, with a 20-17 score, but it was not enough in the end. The last five points were all Nebraska and they completed the sweep. 

Illinois stays at Huff Hall this Sunday to take on Northwestern, searching for a much-needed victory. The first hit is set for 1 p.m. and will be streamed on Big Ten+. 

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