CHAMPAIGN – One of these days, promises Don Hardin, his University of Illinois volleyball team will do more than simply throw a scare into a national power.

"This team's real close to cracking it open," the Illini coach said Wednesday night after No. 5 Wisconsin stretched its winning streak to 11 matches with a hard-fought 11-15, 15-5, 15-9, 15-8 victory at Huff Hall. "As the weeks progress, I think we're more and more dangerous."

Not long ago, the Illini probably best would be described by another D word – docile. Halfway through the Big Ten Conference race, they stood 3-7 and had just absorbed a 3-0 spanking from an Iowa team that was 1-8 in the league entering the match.

Since that humbling defeat, Illinois is a deceptive 2-3. Two of the losses were to then-No. 1 Penn State and the 23-2 Badgers, both in four games. The third was a five-game road setback to fourth-place Michigan.

"I look at our last five matches, and they're all extremely competitive compared to where we were awhile ago," Hardin said. "I wish we could have started the conference this way."

Because they didn't, the 14-11 Illini find themselves in seventh place at 5-10.

And Hardin finds himself explaining the need to be patient as the once-proud program goes through rebuilding pains.

"It's a slow building process," the second-year UI coach said, "and I know everyone's impatient and they'd like to see it come along more quickly. Nobody wants it more quickly than we do as a group.

"But I see progress, and I don't want to get frustrated to the point where we bail out and we don't keep making the progress that's occurred.

"What we have to make sure we do is when we play a team that's not No. 1 or 5, we keep our same level up there."

The Illini need not wait long to get that chance. At 8 p.m. Friday, they play host to Michigan State, which this week fell out of the Top 25.

Wisconsin fell victim to a torrid start by Illinois, which bolted to a 9-0 lead en route to winning Game 1.

After Wisconsin responded with a dominant performance in Game 2, the persistent Illini staged comebacks in each of the final two games before falling short.

"We just need to put a complete match together," said Illini outside hitter Mary Coleman, who racked up a match-high 24 kills to go with 14 digs. "We're seeing spurts of it. ... It's going to have to come together for us pretty soon."