Redemption came two-fold for the No. 5 Penn State (17-2, 8-2 Big Ten) women's volleyball team on Friday night.

The Nittany Lions took down No. 24 Illinois, 3-1 (30-18, 30-24, 30-32, 30-15) in Champaign, Ill. -- redeeming themselves from both last year's loss at Illinois and Wednesday's heartbreaker against Ohio State.

How important was it for the Lions to recover?

"You can't get 'em back," Penn State coach Russ Rose said about tough losses.

"It's important to not let them beat you twice."

That's just what the Lions did.

Freshman outside hitter Kate Price continued to show why she was so highly recruited out of high school, again leading the Lions with a match-high 21 kills.

"You have to feel good anytime you can win a match on the road," Rose said. "Katie Price turned in a great performance tonight. Katie really turned it up offensively."

Price's 21 kills came off of 50 attempts, a .320 hitting percentage -- not too shabby against a American Volleyball Coaches Association top-25 team. Price also kicked-in in the clutch on defense with 15 digs, good enough for second on the team. The dig tally was only three shy of her career high.

Fellow freshman Melissa Walbridge looks better and better on the block every game, and led the team with nine stuffs against the Illini.

Walbridge has usurped the backup role at middle hitter from Kim Holm, and is really making a name for herself as a defensive stalwart.

Walbridge and Price are two of the reasons Rose described his defense Friday as "solid."

The Illini have been without starting setter Erin Virtue, who was lost for the season with a torn right anterior cruciate ligament.

Rose admitted the loss of Virtue certainly had an impact on the play of the Illini, but he was quick to counter that it can't change every part of the game. Backup setter Stephanie Obermeier, a redshirt freshman, has filled in for Virtue without skipping a beat.

The Lions weren't the only team bouncing back from a loss to pull off big wins this weekend.

The very same Illini team that the Lions defeated on Friday night came out swinging just 24 hours later and swept previously undefeated No. 7 Ohio State.

It's just another example of what Rose always talks about -- just how tough the Big Ten conference really is.

The Illini have officially become the giant killers in the Big Ten, spoiling the Buckeyes' perfect record Saturday. The Illini started turning heads around the volleyball nation when it snapped back-to-back NCAA national champion No. 6 Southern California's 52-game winning streak earlier in the year.

Recovering, especially against a team with the resume of wins that the Illini has, was just what the Lions' had been talking about.

"Ashley [Pederson] just told me how we've never lost back-to-back against Illinois," Price said. "And we didn't."