Despite being on the brink of history, the Penn State women's volleyball team refuses to believe it until it's over. The No. 1 Nittany Lions repeatedly said they are not concerned with breaking the NCAA record 52-match win streak.
But Don Hardin remembers beating No. 1 Southern California like it was yesterday. The Illinois women's volleyball coach said his team sees it more "like Woodstock."
Four years ago, the top-ranked and undefeated Trojans, fresh off another national championship, entered Huff Hall with their own 52-match win streak.
Southern California left Champaign, Ill., with a five-set defeat.
This weekend, the Penn State women's volleyball team enters Illinois on similar grounds. The Lions are No. 1, unbeaten, and the defending national champions arriving with a 52-match winning streak. Penn State and the Fighting Illini will play at 8 tonight before the Lions visit No. 18 Purdue 7 p.m. Saturday. A win against Illinois will give Penn State the NCAA record for consecutive matches won.
"It's ironic," Hardin said. "There are a lot of eerie similarities in terms of needing to go through Huff Hall. I only hope we can accommodate a great fight."
Four years later, Penn State (26-0, 14-0 Big Ten) is hoping to avoid a similar result against the No. 17 Illini.
Penn State's Megan Hodge said Illinois' student section is pretty crazy, adding it will be the roughest road challenge for her team.
Her teammate Alisha Glass said getting on top early will be crucial.
"Illinois is a fun place to play and a hard place to play," Glass said. "We have to be good early and take the crowd out of it. We want to play our game."
Penn State coach Russ Rose said he wasn't surprised Illinois (19-6, 10-4) was tied for second in the Big Ten standings. Offensively, sophomore Laura DeBruler leads Illinois, as second in the conference with 446 kills.
Rose also said if he were to vote today, he would vote Illinois freshman Michelle Bartsch as the freshman of the year in the Big Ten.
As far as history repeating, Hardin said Penn State's talent level and positive attitude make "the chances of that very slim." He has noticed in watching the Lions that whenever a set is tight, a veteran like Nicole Fawcett steps up and takes control.
To put up their best fight, the Illini may have to win long rallies. Hardin said his team has to play great defense to win a match. He added his squad isn't a quick-set, put-away team.
Hardin said he wants his team to avoid too many risks. He doesn't want his team to get overly emotional if it wants to compete with what he calls "one of the best teams in the history of volleyball."
In the matchup four years ago, Illinois served as host to a big sports weekend. The football team played UCLA that day, and although Illinois lost, some fans from the game headed to Huff Hall to watch the Illini-Trojan match.
Hardin said the UCLA fans who watched the volleyball match said Illinois was their second favorite team that day, with No. 1 being UCLA and No. 2 being whoever is playing cross-town rival Southern California.
And if history is any indication, Hardin said the Illinois fans learned magical nights in Huff Hall can happen, just like four years ago.
"Huff is special and a legendary gym -- a really old feel to it," Hardin said. "It's much like Rec Hall, but a little more intimate. It's like the ghosts of the past cheer in the stands. It's so close to the action and the players really feel the crowd."
