CHAMPAIGN – Rachel Feldman has been on the receiving end of plenty of difficult-to-handle serves during her volleyball career.

As the Illinois libero proved Friday night, however, she can dish it out, too, from behind the baseline.

Feldman was at the forefront of an Illini serving attack that racked up a season-high 11 aces and kept Iowa on its heels throughout much of the Big Ten match at Huff Hall. The result was a dominating 25-9, 25-18, 25-18 victory by No. 5 Illinois.

"Being a defensive player, I know what it's like to be in serve receive," Feldman said. "And getting an ace ... I think it's kind of revenge sometimes."

The sophomore finished with a career-high four aces, one short of the most by an Illini player this season. Classmate Michelle Bartsch also had the most aces of her college career – three – as Illinois out-aced the Hawkeyes by eight.

"It's something we've been focusing a lot on in practice," UI coach Kevin Hambly said, "and I think the girls are responding. We're starting to see some of the rewards for our efforts in practice."

The Illini's ace total exceeded their previous high this season of eight, set in the opener against Texas Tech – and came one match after Illinois had seven aces in a win against Ohio State.

"I thought Ohio State, the same thing –- we served them off the court," Hambly said. "We didn't have as many aces (against the Buckeyes), but they were out of system the entire time."

Even when the Illini (22-4, 14-3 Big Ten) didn't land an ace, their serving was consistently tough enough to slow one of Iowa's top weapons – the slide play.

"A big part of their offense is their slide," Bartsch said, "and we really got them out of system serving. The couldn't run it on us as much."

In fact, the Hawkeye attack had little success with whatever it tried. Iowa (12-17, 4-13) hit .077 for the match and was held to 24 kills while committing 17 hitting errors.

For Hambly, Illinois' ability to slow the Hawkeye attack started with its aggressive serving.

"We really want to get into this attacking mentality," he said, "and (serving is) the first attack you can have. ... The serve-pass game is the game. If we can serve tough and get them out of system, then we have a really good chance to win."

Bartsch led the Illini attack with a match-high 11 kills, several of them high-power smashes that had the crowd of 1,550 buzzing.

Feldman was impressed with Bartsch's ability to cash in on kill attempts set by someone other than setter Hillary Haen during times when Illinois was out of system.

"There was one that Kylie (McCulley) set, she hit it so hard my eyes just lit up," Feldman said. "So I think, just being very versatile, she's getting strong at hitting anywhere."

McCulley was a force on the attack, too, finishing with nine kills in 13 swings and hitting a career-high .615.

Illinois took command of Set 1 with a 10-0 run that put Iowa in a 16-5 hole. Feldman had three aces during the extended spurt, which Hawkeyes coach Sharon Dingman unsuccessfully attempted to slow by burning both of her timeouts.

Illinois outhit Iowa .440 to .095 and had five of its aces in the opening set. The Hawkeyes' nine points were the second fewest by an Illini opponent this season in a 25-point set. The Illini held Ohio State to eight points in the second set last Sunday.

Illinois also took early command in Set 2, building a 12-4 lead. Middle blockers Johannah Bangert and Erin Johnson combined for seven of the Illini's 17 kills in the set as solid passing allowed Haen to spread around the attack.

Iowa took only its second lead of the match in Set 3 at 5-4, but the advantage was short-lived. Trailing 7-5, Illinois scored 13 of the next 16 points to pull away.

The Illini, who have won 13 of their last 14 matches, will play their final regular season home match at 7 tonight against Wisconsin. After the match, Illinois will recognize McCulley and libero Ashley Edinger in a Senior Night ceremony.