For the MSU volleyball team, the present is much sweeter than the past.

A little more than a month ago, the Spartans had just finished off the first half of their Big Ten schedule with a paltry 4-6 conference record.

But after a 3-0 sweep over No. 21 Illinois and a 3-1 victory over Indiana this weekend at Jenison Field House, the Spartans (20-7, 13-7 Big Ten) completed their regular season schedule and their turnaround from one of the Big Ten’s mediocre teams to one of the elite.

“We were really disappointed with the first half of the Big Ten,” junior outside hitter Kyla Smith said. “I knew we were better than 4-6, and I think that’s been something that’s been driving us.”

In Saturday night’s Senior Night match with Indiana (8-20, 5-15), though, the Spartans didn’t begin with that drive.

After sluggishly trudging to a 30-22 game-one win and a 30-23 game two loss, head coach Chuck Erbe correctly diagnosed the problem.

“I could tell we were just flat in game one, but we just physically won game one,” he said. “Then the bottom dropped out in game two.”

Sophomore setter Nikki Colson said Erbe told the team between the second and third game that they had to find a reason to get pumped.

“We needed to find something to get us motivated, and we needed to play with a purpose,” Colson said. “And in the first two games, we really didn’t do that.”

But the Spartans only had to look across the room to find their motivation - senior outside hitter Erin Hartley, injured senior defensive specialist Lisa Ashton and former player and current student coach senior Maren Witzel.

“We wanted to win it for the seniors,” junior middle blocker Angela Morley said. “What could be a better way to send our seniors off than with a win?”

The Spartans did just that - scratching and clawing their way to 30-25 and 30-24 wins in games three and four, respectively.

And fittingly on Senior Night, it was Hartley who carried the brunt of the load.

Hartley, limited to just six kills in the first two games, finished her home-court career by storming to 21 kills. Nine of the kills came in game four, including one for the final point of the match.

The Spartans only had to look as far back as Oct. 13, to find motivation for their Friday night match vs. the Fighting Illini (20-8, 13-7).

In the teams’ previous meeting, the Fighting Illini dominated the Spartans in a 3-0 victory.

This time it was the surging Spartans who recorded their third-straight win over a ranked opponent with a sweep of the Illini.

But it wasn’t a smooth ride by any means - the Spartans had to fight back from two late 19-15 Illini leads in games one and three and had to use four game-point chances before closing out Illinois in game two.

And despite the Illini leads and the solid Illinois defense, the scoreboard read 30-24, 34-32 and 30-27 after the game, with all three matches in MSU’s favor.

“What’s really nice to see is that we might bend, but we don’t break,” said Erbe, who collected his 500th career win with the victory.

The Spartans got 11 blocks from Morley. Hartley added 20 kills and Smith contributed 15.

Smith said the Spartans have finally proven to their opponents that they deserve as much respect as anyone and shouldn’t be judged on their early season stumbles.

“If I was on another team, I’d be scared to play us,” Smith said. “We’re much more confident, and if we’re down a few points we don’t really care.

“There’s not even a little doubt in anyone’s mind, and you can feel that on the court - we always believe that no matter what we can win.”