A banner night for Illini volleyball in 3-0 sweep of Iowa State

Huff Hall was simply electric on Friday night. In front of the largest opening night crowd in program history, some 3,770, the 19th-ranked Illini responded with a straight sets 25-16, 25-22, 25-16 victory over #15 Iowa State.

Before the match, last year's seniors Hannah Deterding, Rachel Feldman and Michelle Bartsch, helped unveil the 2011 NCAA National runner-up banner on Huff's south rafters. The night, though, seemed a passing of the torch to the next group of Illini as freshman and sophomores combined for 39 of the team's 45 kills in a reversal of fortune from a week ago, when Illinois struggled to a 1-2 start.

For head coach Kevin Hambly, the difference was simple. "They passed the ball," he said. "Defensively, we did a much better job because we were in some kind of groove offensively, we weren't always on the defensive."

fightingillini.com