After a one-year hiatus from the NCAA tournament, the Illinois volleyball team is back in full force.

"I'm really excited, still nervous, still shaking," Illinois junior Lauren Harks said. "We're just really happy to play another weekend at home and be able to play in front of a home crowd for another weekend."

The Illini hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament in 2001, when they bested Missouri 3-1 in the first round, before falling to Arizona by the same 3-1 score. The Illini will host rounds one and two of the 2003 NCAA Volleyball tournament.

"We think we have a good chance," senior middle blocker Lisa Argabright said. "We just have to play match by match and do as good as we can."

This time the Illini will face Murray State at 7 p.m. during the opening round. The second-round game features the winner of the Notre Dame/Louisville match-up and the victor of the Illinois/Murray State game.

"I'm excited that that teams have to come into our environment, which I think is one of the toughest ones in the country," Argabright said. "I'm ready to go. I think our entire team is ready for the NCAA play."

The team isn't looking too far ahead.

"Anyone in the first round is going to be a good opponent, one of my concerns normally would be that our team would look past them to a Louisville or a Notre Dame and get stunned in the first round," Illinois head coach Don Hardin said. "This team is not about that, they understand that very clearly. We're close to the soccer team (who lost in the first round of the NCAA at home) ... we went through that experience with them and we're hoping that we can learn from that."

Illinois earned their NCAA tournament berth with their tough play over the holiday break that included four hard fought matches, three which resulted in victories.

The Illini opened competition in Bloomington, Ind., on Nov. 21 when the women topped Indiana 3-1. Next, the Illini traveled to West Lafayette, Ind., on Nov. 22 where they defeated the Boilermakers 3-1. Friday night featured the Illini's lone home loss of the season, when No. 18 Illinois was upset by Michigan. The loss snapped the Illini's six-match winning streak. The Wolverines outblocked Illinois 15.5-to-7 while the Illini hit a mere .202 percent, hindering the squad from taking a piece of the Big Ten conference title.

Despite the loss to the Wolverines on Friday, the Illini rallied to defeat Michigan State on senior night. Illinois swept the Spartans, led by senior middle blockers Argabright and Shelly O'Bryan and outside hitter Melissa Vandrey.

"It seemed to bust some pressure off of people's shoulders when we lost Friday night," Hardin said. "They were extremely disappointed, in all of my years of coaching I have never seen a team take a loss worse."

Although the Illini suffered with a sporadic performance on Friday, they were not derailed from their goals too much. The women finished the season at 24-6, tying Minnesota for second place in the Big Ten conference.

The 24-win season sets the record for the most wins for one of Hardin's squad in his eight year tenure at the University. The Illini tallied the most league wins (15) and home victories (12) since the 1992 team grabbed 19 victories, 16 at home.

With the Illini's stellar season finally reaching the postseason, Hardin is confident that his team will perform well as the pressure mounts.

"They're not beating opponents because they are extremely more talented than the other teams," Hardin said. "They're beating them based on fight and competitive desire."