Kevin Hambly was not impressed with his team the last time it played Penn State.
The Illinois women's volleyball coach said the No. 1 Nittany Lions (26-0, 14-0 Big Ten) got into his team's head when they swept the Illini back on Sept. 26 in Champaign, Ill.
"To be honest, the last time we played Penn State they throttled us so bad, it just rattled us a little bit," Hambly said.
Since that loss to the Lions, Illinois has lost just once and won 11 consecutive Big Ten matches. Penn State is the only team in the Big Ten that the Illini have not beaten this season.
As such, Penn State will be seeing a different team this weekend than it saw in September.
But Illinois will not only be different because of the way the team is playing, it will be different because they will have different personnel on the court.
Senior libero Ashley Edinger suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee on Oct. 31 in a match against Purdue. Despite the loss of its starting libero, Illinois has continued to win conference matches.
Sophomore Rachel Feldman has filled in for Edinger, and Hambly hasn't seen much of a change in his team's play.
"Systematically, it's still the same," Hambly said. "[Feldman] has practiced all year and was prepared if something were to happen. It's just more personality and experience."
Feldman's inexperience could come into play this weekend.
Still, Penn State coach Russ Rose isn't taking anything for granted.
"Their numbers were pretty much the same last week with the new girl playing," Rose said about Feldman. "I would expect
them to be as big a challenge that we're gonna see to date and maybe well into the future."
Friday's match will feature the top two teams in the Big Ten, but Hambly said his team is not focusing on the standings. Instead, the team will be focusing on doing something that they didn't do in the first match against Penn State -- getting better.
Hambly said the goal is always to improve as a team.
"We're looking forward to the opportunity to try to get better as a team," Hambly said.
