Even though it's been a year since the Illini volleyball team opened their Big Ten season with a loss to Northwestern, to the team it seems like a century ago.

"It's like ancient history to us now," said Illinois head coach Don Hardin. "We're not really thinking so much about last year."

The Illini have spent so much time together since January between winter and summer practices and their summer trip to Brazil, the Illini feel they have been together for years since their last Big Ten contest.

With the break now over, Illinois (9-1) enters Big Ten play at Northwestern (9-3), tonight at 7 p.m.

Illinois started its Big Ten schedule last season against Northwestern and lost to the Wildcats in five games. From that point on, Northwestern finished sixth in the conference and appeared in the NCAA Tournament.

Illinois performed inconsistently afterward, beating ranked teams in Wisconsin and Minnesota and losing to unranked opponents like Iowa before finishing ninth in the Big Ten.

Illinois comes into conference play with an eight-match winning streak, the team's longest since the 1997 squad won its first eight matches.

"I don't know if it's the winning streak, but our presence on the court has increasingly been helping our confidence," said Illinois junior defensive specialist Kathleen Bazzetta. "Each match we're walking away with another thing under our belt."

Hardin said he had gotten what he expected from this year's squad during the non-conference schedule. Illinois' non-conference record is the best since the 1997 squad also started 9-1. This team stacks up as one of Hardin's best entering Big Ten play.

"Definitely one of the better, not yet the best, but getting there," Hardin said. "We had a team (in 1999) that went to Long Beach State that was pretty good, but this team is close."

Northwestern enters the match with one of the best offensive attacks in the conference. Seniors middle blocker Erika Lange (4.70 kills) and outside hitter Iwona Lodzik (4.27 kills) lead the Wildcats. Both have been named Big Ten Player of the Week this season with Lange earning National Player of the Week honors Sept. 8 for her 48 kills and 11 blocks the week before.

"We're not going to be able to stop them but we are going to be able to slow them down," Hardin said. "I think hopefully we will have some serving and blocking strategies that will challenge them a little bit."

Northwestern leads the Big Ten in kills (17.21), is second in hitting percentage (.302) and second in service aces (1.90).

Conversely, Illinois dominates the defensive side of the court. The Illini lead the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.143) and is second in blocks (3.06) and digs (16.53).

Strength will meet strength when Lange kills the ball.

"Defense comes down to heart and we have more fight in us," Bazzetta said. "That will prove to be the winning key. If we can dig and we can block, then everything else is just going to flow."

"This is totally new ground, Bazzetta said. "We don't want to repeat history, that's for sure."