In need of a crucial home win Wednesday night, the Illinois volleyball team’s straits became ever more dire, as it fell to No. 22 Purdue 24-26, 25-20, 25-21, 20-25, 9-15.

It was the Illini’s fourth consecutive loss, sixth five-set loss of the season and second five-set loss to Purdue (17-7, 8-5 Big Ten). The defeat drops Illinois to 10-13 (4-9) and leaves it needing wins in six of their final seven games to have a chance of reaching the NCAA tournament (teams must be over .500 to be eligible).

“We had moments where like we’ve been saying all season, where we can see we’re good,” libero Jennifer Beltran said. “But what really matters is the very last point and we definitely didn’t step up to the plate how we should have.”

While the match was tightly contested the whole way, Illinois led for the majority of the first three sets.

The tone for the match was set early, with 15 ties and five lead changes during the first set. Up 23-21, Illinois appeared to put itself in position to get rolling with a first-set win. But Purdue reeled off three-straight points to steal the set, with middle blocker Anna Drewry powering home the final kill to seal it.

Illinois battled back to take the second and third sets in similar fashion. In both sets, the Illini slowly gained an advantage as the set went on. Unlike in the first set, though, they were able to hold on in both the second and the third and putting them one set away from righting the ship.

On a two-set win streak, Illinois seemed poised to roll to victory in the fourth set. They came out flat, though, and Purdue ran away with the set; Catherine Rebarchak notched her 15th kill of the match on set point, to send it to the decisive fifth set.

During the break, Illinois head coach Kevin Hambly implored his players to believe in themselves, a challenge after losing so many close matches this season.

“I think a lot of that has to do with just confidence and being in those situations and not prevailing in the last several weeks,” Hambly said. “It’s hard to have confidence.”

Hambly’s words didn’t produce results, however, as the Boilermakers jetted to a 5-0 lead behind two more kills from Rebarchak. Disliking his team’s play and searching for a spark, Hambly inserted freshman setter Alexis Viliunas, continuing the setter shuffling he began last weekend in losses to Wisconsin and Minnesota.

With Viliunas, the Illini were momentarily rejuvenated, taking the next three points. But the lead proved insurmountable despite Hambly reinserting Annie Luhrsen for rotational purposes. Illinois got as close as 11-8, but two consecutive errors sunk them into a deeper hole at 13-8. One final error, this time when middle blocker Anna Dorn hit the net on match point, doomed the Illini, and they fell 15-9.

The loss was devastating for an Illinois team scratching and clawing for every win it can get.

“It’s one we needed to get, for sure,” Hambly said. “Every loss, our backs are closer to the wall.”

Daniel can be reached at [email protected] and @danielmillermc.