The Illinois volleyball team came up short in the national championship, falling 3-1 to UCLA on Saturday in the Alamodome. The Illini turned in the best finish in school history with the second-place showing and ended the year with an overall record of 32-5. Read FightingIllini.com’s full recap, see the box score and check out the team’s photo gallery.

Illinois advanced to the school’s first NCAA volleyball championship match with a win over USC in five sets (25-27, 25-18, 25-22, 18-25, 15-10). Illinois will face UCLA for the title on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET live on ESPN2. Relive an entire live blog at FightingIllini.com, check out their photo gallery, and find the entire updated interactive tournament bracket at NCAA.com. NCAA.com also has video highlights. You can also follow the Illinois volleyball team’s Twitter account @IlliniVball. Earlier, UCLA advanced to its first national championship match since 1994 with a sweep of Florida State in the other semifinal (25-16, 25-17, 25-21).

BTN2Go, BTN and NET plan to offer live coverage of the five Big Ten teams that are hosting NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament action this weekend.

(BigTen,org) The Big Ten will be well-represented at the 2011 NCAA Volleyball Championship, as eight conference teams have been selected to the tournament’s field of 64 for the second consecutive season. The eight chosen squads ties a conference record and gives the Big Ten the most tournament teams of any conference in the country. See the official NCAA.com bracket.

Purdue women’s volleyball team earns their 6th win of the season leading them to tie for 3rd place in the Big Ten Conference on Wednesday night against Illinois, 3-1 in four sets (25-21, 22-25, 24-26, 21-25). Star player, Ariel Turner helped lead the Boilermakers to another victory with 21 kills, 19 digs and 8 blocks. Watch the highlights of the game now.