For the Illinois volleyball team, the month of October was a veritable 31-day nightmare. The Illini entered the month 8-6, and left it 10-13, seeking confidence and validation for their efforts in practice.

Meanwhile, sophomore Anna Dorn entered October enjoying her second season in orange and blue thriving with the sixth-highest hitting percentage in the nation. She was emerging as a leader, looking to pick up where graduates Colleen Ward and Michelle Bartsch left off — leading by example.

Then October happened, starting with a blown 2-0 lead at home against Ohio State, then a blown 14-10 lead in the fifth set against Penn State. Things didn’t get better from there. A poor showing against Michigan stunned head coach Kevin Hambly. A change at setter reset things on offense. Two wins temporarily buoyed the sinking ship, and then four more losses poured on the Illini like a tidal wave.

Dorn’s numbers likewise sunk. Her hitting percentage has dropped to .380, which, though still a desirable percentage, isn’t at the level it was in the season’s early going.

Hambly pointed out two changes in Saturday’s postgame press conference following a win against Indiana that could help explain Dorn’s dip: other teams accounting and scheming for her defensively, and the change at setter affecting the middle blocker’s timing. At practice Tuesday, he also pointed out that offense is just one facet of Dorn’s game.

“I think she’s blocked great, like she’s gotten better at blocking, and sometimes the numbers don’t show up in blocking,” Hambly said. “For blocking, it’s about opponent hitting efficiency. The opponent’s hitting efficiency has gone down … and she’s a big part of that. Attackingwise, sometimes it’s about passing, for middles it’s about passing, it’s about the connection. I think she’s doing better than she thinks she is — that’s the thing I would say.”

That connection has been between Dorn and different setters over the past couple of weeks, though senior Annie Luhrsen seems to be wrestling the starting role back from freshman Alexis Viliunas. Part of Luhrsen’s advantage is having a solidified connection with the middle blockers — a connection that is difficult to forge.

“Setting the middles is a much more intricate relationship, I think, than setting the outsides — one, because they run more routes, and two just because it is a quicker set,” Luhrsen said. “It’s a connection that I’ve really worked on for a long time, and I mean Lex has worked really hard on it too, but I know for me, it just took a lot of time to find that connection.”

For the setter position, Hambly’s switch to Viliunas midseason was driven by the team’s personality. He thought her relaxed attitude on the court was what the team needed at the time. For Dorn, however, Luhrsen’s competitive drive was more in line with her style of play.

“I guess how I compete at my highest level is when my head is totally in the game and I feel really fired up and intense and ready to go,” Dorn said. She added that by keeping her own feelings in check, she was able to mesh with the group when Viliunas was played.

“I think as long as everybody’s playing in their element, it works,” she said.

Hambly said that with Dorn’s decreasing offensive production, her confidence has dipped. He believes the only way to fix confidence is to work on things in practice and then execute them in games.

But as Luhrsen and Dorn get back into their groove as a tandem, there is confidence that the sophomore from Munster, Ind., will bounce back.

“I think all it’s gonna take is one really good match and she’s gonna be dominating the Big Ten again in everything she does,” Luhrsen said. “I think some of it’s confidence, but some of it’s just everyone goes through that once in a while and there’s not much you can do about it except keep working.”

Eliot can be reached at [email protected] and @eliottweet.