Oops, they did it again.
For the third straight weekend, the No. 18 MSU volleyball team was lost the first night but recovered to win on the second.
The Spartans (12-6 overall, 4-4 Big Ten) are being consistent, but it's not the consistency head coach Chuck Erbe has been looking for. They now have split their weekly matches in each of the last four weeks.
Illinois (15-3 overall, 6-2 Big Ten) came into Jenison Field House on Friday night and dominated the Spartans in three games, 30-24, 30-25 and 30-25.
"Right now, the loss of Michelle Kopka has affected us more than I thought it would," Erbe said. "We're not performing like we did in the nonconference. I don't have any answers. If I did, I would fix things."
Kopka has been out with a small stress fracture in her back, the effects of which she first felt three weeks ago against Penn State.
Sophomore middle Brooke Langston, who has replaced Kopka and done her best to fill in, led the Spartans with a .643 hitting percentage and 10 kills while adding threeblock assists against the Fighting Illini.
After the game, the players met amongst themselves - without the coaches - to talk about what they could do differently.
The meeting proved worthwhile as Saturday night the Spartans again were a completely different team. This time, it was the Spartans doing the dominating, sweeping Northwestern 30-24, 32-30 and 30-19.
"The thing I was most pleased about was the comeback in game two," Erbe said. "It's been awhile since we've seen that. Not only the comeback but to be able to win the comeback."
MSU put on a clinic against the Wildcats (11-9, 2-6) in front of a large home crowd and the ESPN2 cameras. Northwestern didn't know where the ball was going all night, leaving plenty of one-on-one hitting opportunities for the MSU front liners.
Junior outside hitter Kim Schram and senior middle Jenny Rood led the way, tallying 30 of MSU's 53 kills on the night and hitting .400 and .500, respectively. The two didn't limit themselves to hitting as Schram added nine digs and three total blocks, while Rood chipped in with four total blocks and two service aces.
"The difference was, our serving, passing and blocking were dramatically better." Erbe said. "I mentioned to (the team) after (Friday) night's match that if our serving can be aggressive, then that will create blocking opportunities."
The Spartans totaled 13.5 blocks in the three-game match, one of their best blocking performances of the year.
"I think when we play for the love of the game and we play because we love competition, and we love what we're doing, this is the type of result we get," Schram said.
The Spartans hope to buck the 1-1 trend and the "lose Friday, win Saturday" theme this weekend when they travel to Iowa and Minnesota. MSU will face the Big Ten cellar dwellers Iowa on Friday and defending conference champion Minnesota on Saturday.
