The No. 5 Penn State women's volleyball team (16-2, 7-2 Big Ten) will have to develop short-term memory loss as it travels to Illinois for a match with the No. 24 Illini (13-4, 5-3), the team right behind the Lions in the Big Ten standings.

The match against the Illini will mark the halfway point in the Big Ten season and a chance to regain the momentum that was stopped by the loss to No. 7 Ohio State on Wednesday night.

"I haven't had a lot of information on [Illinois] but the information I do have is troubling," Penn State coach Russ Rose said. "They defeated [University of Southern California] when [they] were the No. 1 team in the country and hadn't lost in over two season. Also [Illinois]'s crowds have been much larger this season, it's a much more active place."

The much-ballyhooed Illini victory over the women of Troy seems like it was years ago, considering the major injury that has struck the Illinois roster. The big hit came when star setter Erin Virtue tore her right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in a match against Ball State on Sept. 17, leaving the Illini with a big hole in their offense. Virtue had been a preseason all-Big Ten and honorable mention all-America selection had recorded 424 assists in 30 games before her injury.

Even without their fallen star, the Illini have persevered, and are still, a threat to win the Big Ten. Illinois is lead by core of upperclassmen, most notably junior outside hitter Jessica Belter, who is in the top three on Illinois in three major categories: kills (213), blocks (51) and service aces (16).

"The three outside hitters are pretty difficult," Rose said.

"Jessica Belter had a match where she had 25 kills and only one error against Michigan. That certainly got my attention. We have to bounce back and get some better performances from the players who played sub-par [Wednesday night]."

The one player who must improve from the Ohio State match is junior setter Sam Tortorello, who had some uncharacteristic miscues in the loss. If her track record is correct, Tortorello should bounce back and not be shaken by her play.

The one very encouraging sign that came out of the loss is that freshmen Kate Price and Melissa Walbridge showed once again that they don't tighten up in the spotlight.

Price recorded another 20-kill match against a high-ranked opponent, a feat she accomplished against Stanford and Minnesota. She has also not shown any intimidation when facing players who are almost iconic in the sport, especially outside hitters Ogonna Nnamani of Stanford and Ohio State's Stacey Gordon.

Walbridge, on the other hand, seems to be getting comfortable with playing after missing the first two weeks worth of matches. The 6-foot-3 native of Yardley has shown the ability to be a great complement in the middle to sophomore Cassy Salyer.

The Lions flew out to Champaign, yesterday after what junior libero Kaleena Walters called "a hard day of practice."

Penn State looks to finish off the first half of the Big Ten season on a positive note.