News you can't leave work without:

Abby Nelson won't play volleyball again at Illinois.

News you can't leave work without:

Illini volleyball coach Kevin Hambly doesn't expect his program to begin playing sand volleyball while it is an NCAA emerging sport.

PHILADELPHIA — Former Illinois midfielder Jackie Santacaterina, a Geneva native, was drafted by the Chicago Red Stars on Friday in the Women’s Professional Soccer draft.
Santacaterina was selected in the seventh round, 60th overall. She will join former Illini teammate Ella Masar, an Urbana product, on the Red Stars’ roster when preseason camp opens March 1. The WPS will begin its second season in April.

Allison Stark, a junior right-side hitter from Mount Vernon, Iowa, has orally committed to the Illinois volleyball team.

The 6-foot-1 left-hander was selected by Prepvolleyball.com in December as one of the top 50 players in the Class of 2011. After leading Mount Vernon to the Iowa Class 2A state title in November, Stark was named to The Des Moines Register's six-player Elite All-State Team. She averaged 2.7 kills and 1.9 digs per set and hit .447 last season.

Jeff Huth's review and preview of all things Illinois

From the valleys to the mountaintops and back again. That's the story of Illinois athletics throughout the first decade of a new century. The football team peaked twice, only to fall back. Bruce Weber's cagers hit 37-2 and, three years later, accepted 16-19. Theresa Grentz offered hope that fizzled. The men's tennis team peaked as national champion, then fell back to respected contender.

Following are, for me personally, the 10 most memorable and significant events of the "naughty aughties" or, better yet, the Internet Age. You'll agree on some. Others, you won't.

CHAMPAIGN — Illinois’ volleyball team, which bowed out of the NCAA tournament against Hawaii, was ranked 10th in the final AVCA poll.
The Illini, who finished 26-6, were second in the Big Ten to national champion Penn State and reached the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season.

Nittany Lions playing for another title