It was the end of a close, yet frustrating, week for the WKU volleyball team – which fell 3-1 (27-25, 19-25, 25-13, 25-19) to Illinois in the final match of the Hyatt Place Invitational on Saturday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

WKU (4-6) battled Illinois nip and tuck for two sets before the Fighting Illini were able to take control and hand the Hilltoppers another hard-fought setback. The loss capped an 0-4 week, which included two losses to ranked teams prior to Saturday – two in five sets – and was the Hilltoppers’ third loss in a little over 24-hour period. WKU dropped a 3-2 decision to Marquette, which received votes in this week’s AVCA top 25 poll, to open the event on Friday before being swept by No. 24 Dayton in Friday’s nightcap. The week began with a 3-2 loss to No. 16 Tennessee on Tuesday.

“We just haven’t been able to sustain it,” WKU coach Travis Hudson said. “This one was a little different. We just could not generate any offense today against another outstanding opponent. I’ve been doing this a long time and that is a frustrating week right there. We were competitive every night. We were in games. … It has just been that kind of week for our team. When it is, you’ve got to own it. You can’t make excuses. You try to learn from it and come back and be better.”

The Hilltoppers controlled most of the first two sets, but Illinois (7-1) was still able to get the first set – allowing the Fighting Illini to take control in the second half of the match.

WKU opened the first set with four early blocks to build a 6-1 advantage before Illinois settled in. Illinois trimmed the deficit to one on multiple occasions before WKU was able to push the lead back to 15-11. Three straight kills by Kaylee Cox pushed WKU’s advantage to 21-15, but Illinois came charging back to tie it 22-all.

WKU scored the next two points to make it set point and appeared to have a 25-23 win when an Illinois attack was ruled out. Illinois coach Chris Tamas challenged the call, which was overturned. The Fighting Illini took their first lead of the match when a kill by Laynie Smith made the score 25-24. The Hilltoppers fought off set point, but Illinois won the next two to complete the comeback.

“Those kind of calls are hard,” WKU junior setter Callie Bauer said. “If that call would have went our way, that is a first-set win for us and now we are up a set going into (game two). Obviously those calls really hurt, but we try not to let that stuff carry over.”

WKU was able to bounce back and even the match with a solid second set – Bauer had three aces during an 11-1 run that allowed the Hilltoppers to build a 17-7 lead. Illinois got as close as 24-19 before a Hudson coach’s challenge overruled an attack error by WKU. Instead it was a set-clinching kill from Cox.

“After that deflating first set, our kids come right back and put together a great set two,” Hudson said. “At that moment you hope you are up 2-0 in the match, but it just hasn’t been that this week. Plain and simple, it hasn’t worked out that way.”

The Hilltoppers scored the first points in set three, but it was all Illinois from there. The Fighting Illini scored five straight to take the lead for good and continued to pull away from there. WKU had a .000 hitting percentage in the third set, while Illinois a .516 hitting percentage with 16 kills in the set.

WKU jumped out to a 5-0 lead in set four before Illinois came roaring back with five straight. The Fighting Illini would eventually take control with a 4-0 spurt that made the score 14-10 and continue to extend the lead to as much as nine points. WKU fought off four match points before Illinois closed it out with a kill by Brooke Mosher.

Raina Terry led Illinois with 19 kills, while Averie Hernandez added 17 kills.

“That is what All-Americans do,” Hudson said. “They struggle for a while. We did a great job against Raina Terry the first couple of sets. She was hitting in the .100s, but she has been in so many big matches that she is going to respond in a proper way.”

Cox had 13 kills and 13 digs for WKU. Bauer finished with 27 assists, 18 digs, seven kills and three aces.

“I think (this week) we have learned how to lean on each other,” Bauer said. “We realize how hungry we are for wins. We played great competition this week. Going forward as we play more teams, we are going to take that confidence from the plays we did make against these teams and move forward.”

Hudson said he is hopeful this week is a big learning experience going forward, adding the level of competition will not be at the same heights that it has been in the last four games.

“Our team just has to stay together and stay positive,” Hudson said. “Not only will we not see a week like this, we may not see a team like any of these teams (this week) for a very long time until we get late in conference play. We put ourselves to the test. We were close a lot, but close doesn’t get you victories. We’ve got to take everything and learn from it.”

WKU returns to action in the Alyssa Cavanaugh Classic with two matches on Friday. The Hilltoppers will face Arkansas State at 11 a.m. and Eastern Illinois at 7 p.m.