Click here to read about UI commit McMahon's accident.

CHAMPAIGN – Each August, a new set of banners is affixed to the upper reaches of the south wall of Huff Hall. Each August, oversized images of current senior players on the Illinois volleyball team go on can't-miss display.

For some, it can be a particularly wide-eyed sight.

"I remember freshman year looking at those and being like 'Oh, that's so cool. I can't wait to have mine,' " Johannah Bangert said.

For the Illini senior middle blocker and three classmates, the wait is over. And although their work is far from done, their legacy already is firmly established.

"They've put Illinois volleyball in the national spotlight," Illini coach Kevin Hambly said. "They've set a new standard of what Illinois volleyball should be. You know, getting to the (NCAA) Sweet 16 is not easy. And that's become the standard now for the program. If we don't get to the Sweet 16, it's an awful year."

When the foursome of Bangert, setter Hillary Haen and outside hitters Laura DeBruler and Nicole Kump arrived at the UI in 2007, the standard most resembled a roller-coaster. A series of climbs and declines defined a program caught in the grip of inconsistency.

Then-head coach Don Hardin and top aide Hambly recognized their best opportunity for a lasting ascension rested with the unusually large number of scholarships – five – at their disposal for the 2007 incoming class. The question was, would they land the type of impact players needed to transform the program?

"If we were going to get back on track with that big of a class, we had to make sure we got the right players for it," Hambly said.

The folks at Prepvolleyball.com thought Illinois did, ranking the recruiting class – which also included since-injured and retired middle blocker Abby Nelson – No. 6 in the nation.

The results attest the lofty ranking was not undeserved. Two-time All-American DeBruler enters her final season within 94 kills of becoming the UI career leader. Bangert has led the nation in blocks per set each of the past two seasons. Haen last year became the second setter in UI history to earn All-America honors.

In the process, they've been the driving force behind elevating Illinois volleyball into the national elite. Into a team that is coming off back-to-back 26-win seasons and consecutive Sweet 16 appearances. Into a program that has been nationally ranked since the first regular season poll of 2008 – and a Top 10 team in the last 10 polls.

"(The program) wasn't dead, but it certainly wasn't ranked number 6," said Hambly, referring to the current Illini's preseason rating. "We hadn't been ranked in the Top 10 for a long time until these guys came."

Starting out

It's a group that hardly lacks for confidence. Even as freshmen, this bunch thought big and spoke its mind.

"We are extremely opinionated, bull-headed people, in a way," Haen said. "As freshmen we came in and said, 'Let's just win the Big Ten' and 'Let's just go all the way.'

"And (older teammates are) looking at us like, 'You guys are dumb. You have no idea what you're talking about.' "

The vets were right. Although a freshman-infused 2007 Illini team managed to eke out a winning record (16-14), it also endured the program's third straight losing Big Ten campaign (8-12).

"I think we did come in a little naive," DeBruler said. "But it was still always there in our mind, the vision of what we want this program to become."

It was apparent, too, that despite its record Illinois had become a handful for even the best opponents. Nine of its losses that season went five sets, including three against ranked foes. Eventual NCAA champ Penn State was among the teams Illinois took to the limit.

"What we saw was ... these guys can play, but they're young," Hambly said. "All of the things they're going to be able to do the next year or the year after, they're not able to do right now because we haven't had any time to train them. But we saw the potential of that group."

The training commenced in earnest the following spring, with Hambly fully implementing his vision of volleyball in the era of rally scoring.

Multi-tasking

Hambly arrived at the UI in 2004 fresh off four years of coaching in the USA Volleyball program, a tenure highlighted by assistantships with the U.S. Women's National Team in the 2002 World Championships and 2004 Olympics.

The experience convinced him that a specific type of player – one with multiple skills who could play all six rotations – was needed since the switch from sideout scoring to rally scoring. In the former, only the serving team can earn a point; in the latter, a point is scored on each serve.

The change took effect in the international game in 1999, with colleges following suit in 2001.

"Every point's more precious than it was in the past," Hambly said, "and so you have to have kids who can handle the ball."

In Hambly's view, the worth of the specialist player had declined because of the scoring change. For example, a player could be a great hitter, but if she struggled on digs or passes or blocking, she might give up as many – or more – points as she scored.

His vision was to emphasize the recruitment of athletes who not only excelled at their specific position but also could handle the other skills required by the game's constant transitions between offense and defense. A type of player Hambly has come to label a "generalized specialist."

"Kids that can play all the way around," Hambly said.

This quest for the six-rotation player began in earnest with the recruitment of the current senior class.

The right fit

Collectively, the class was a recruiting coup for a UI program then off the national radar. Individually, however, most weren't of a caliber where Illinois recruiters were going toe-to-toe with the nation's elite programs.

"They were on everyone's list, but they weren't the top kid," Hambly said.

For example, Bangert received plenty of looks, but the slender 6-foot-1 player was hardly the prototypical middle blocker. Her final choice came down to the UI and Oklahoma.

"A lot of people passed on her," Hambly said.

DeBruler was pursued by many of the nation's heavyweights, but given her shortish 5-foot-10 frame, they viewed her not as an outside hitter but as a libero. In the end, DeBruler chose Illinois over Indiana.

Haen was the UI's biggest get, with the likes of Southern California and Arizona also after her.

Whatever their individual ranking, each was identified early by the Illini staff as a priority and the best fit – on and off the court – for what they were trying to assemble.

"They might not have been the prototypical player – a 5-foot-10 outside hitter, a 6-foot middle hitter – but there's something special about each one of them as far as their competitiveness and their passion for the sport," Hambly said. "We knew we had to have those kind of players to rebuild this."

Hambly's sales pitch also included this: Theirs could be the class that turned around Illinois' fortunes. The class that put the program back on the national map.

"That was, I think, the biggest thing for me," Haen said. "Knowing I wasn't going to come into something that was already established, and that I was going to have to work at it with my classmates and my team.

"It's made the experience 100 times better than it would be anywhere else."

Follow the leaders

The impact of their commitments continues to reverberate in succeeding Illini classes. One year later, Illinois won the recruiting battle for current junior Michelle Bartsch, a 2009 honorable mention All-American who was the nation's 16th-ranked recruit.

"We don't get Michelle if she didn't see the talent in that group," Hambly said.

The next year, the Illini landed 57th-ranked Erin Johnson, a middle blocker who started all 32 matches last season and made the All-Big Ten Freshman Team.

Then, with three scholarships for his current freshman class, Hambly and his staff hit another home run. The trio of libero Jennifer Bonilla, outside hitter Jazmine Orozco and middle blocker Anna Dorn was rated the No. 7 recruiting class in the land. The group includes the highest-ranked player Illinois ever has signed: Dorn at No. 6.

And UI coaches already have lined up seven commitments for the next three classes, a haul that includes Liz McMahon, a 6-6 member of the 2010 U.S. Junior National Team.

The origin of this recruiting momentum, Hambly says, can be traced directly to the current senior class.

"They've redefined who we can recruit," he said. "You're seeing a taller, faster six-rotation kid because we've been able to recruit the top kid on everyone's list now, not just the top kids on our list."

Senior moment

Ask the four seniors to envision a dream ending to their careers and the response from this confident bunch is predictably ambitious.

"The national championship," Haen said. "Definitely."

Says DeBruler: "I think we have the talent and the work ethic and all the pieces."

For the senior class, it's now or never – a reality that struck Haen hard moments before the start of the UI's annual Alumni Match on Aug. 21. As the P.A. announcer introduced members of the varsity, "I hear 'Senior from Joliet, Illinois,' and I'm like, that's Nicole. Oh, my gosh. She's a senior, and we're seniors."

However their final season plays out, each is confident they've collectively made a difference. They've ignited a spark in Illini volleyball that, from all appearances, can be sustained for years to come.

"I think probably, later on, that might be something we remember more than anything," Kump said. "We won't remember how many losses or wins we had, unless we look it up.

"But we'll remember what we've made the program into. And that's something that is really powerful."

Classic lineup

AT HUFF HALL

The schedule
TODAY’S MATCHES
Middle Tennessee State vs. South Carolina, 4:30 p.m.
Illinois vs. Brigham Young, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY’S MATCHES
Illinois vs. South Carolina, 10 a.m.
Brigham Young vs. Middle Tennessee State, noon
Brigham Young vs. South Carolina, 4:30 p.m.
Illinois vs. Middle Tennessee State, 7 p.m.

The field
Illinois
2009 record: 26-6 (16-4 Big Ten, 2nd)
Coach: Kevin Hambly, second season, 26-6
Starters returning/lost: 5/1+libero
Top players: Johannah Bangert, Sr. MB; Michelle Bartsch, Jr. RS; Laura DeBruler, Sr. OH; Hillary Haen, Sr. S

Brigham Young
2009 record: 15-14 (9-7 Mountain West, 5th)
Coach: Shay Goulding, third season, 29-26
Starters returning/lost: 4/2+libero)
Top players: Christina Measom, Sr. RS; Stephanie Snow, Sr. OH/MB; Nicole Warner, So. MB

Middle Tennessee State
2009 record: 25-10 (15-2 Sun Belt East, 2nd)
Coach: Matt Peck, seventh season, 116-47
Starters returning/lost: 3/3+libero
Top players: Izabela Kozon, Sr. OH; Stacy Oladinni, Jr. MB/RS; Maria Szivos, Jr. RS/OH

South Carolina
2009 record: 14-16, (5-15 SEC East, 5th)
Coach: Ben Somera, fourth season, 49-40
Starters returning/lost: 3/3+libero
Top players: Taylor Bruns, So. S; Megan Laughlin, Sr. MB; Hannah Lawing, Sr. OH/DS