The Illinois volleyball suffered its seventh five-set loss Saturday in a game in which it outscored hosting Ohio State.

For head coach Kevin Hambly, the pattern of Illinois taking games to five sets (11 this season) is a familiar one.

“In ’07, we had the same thing,” he said. “And we lost a ton of five-setters, we were a young team. And that’s what happens with young teams sometimes. You lose a lot of those close sets.”

While playing more five-set games means more experience for the young squad, Hambly said losing five-set games has worn on the team.

The following is a deeper look at the similarities between the 2007 Illini volleyball team and this year’s rendition.

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

*Note for the 2007 season, this refers to underclassmen starters in the Nov. 23rd, 2007, match against Minnesota. For 2012, these refer to underclassmen starters in their Saturday game against Ohio State.