CHAMPAIGN — Chris Tamas couldn’t hold back tears after his Illinois volleyball team beat Wisconsin to advance to the program’s first Final Four since 2011 and the fourth in its history.

“I don't know what to say in this moment. A lot of work in the making,” Tamas said before pausing to compose himself. “Just really proud of these guys. When I first came out here, just the look on everyone's face, 'Where do we go from here?’ Now, here's where we are in two years.”

At the beginning of the season, Illinois was not expected to be in the Final Four, in only Tamas’ second year in charge of the program after Kevin Hambly left for perennial powerhouse Stanford.

But that’s where No. 3 overall seed Illinois is now after a four-set regional final victory over the No. 6 seed Badgers.

Since a straight-set loss at Minnesota on Oct. 12, the Illini (32-3) have strung together 17 straight wins while knocking off seven ranked teams — including Wisconsin twice now, winning 25-19, 15-25, 25-22, 25-23 on Saturday at a jam-packed Huff Hall.

Cutting down the net after knocking off a conference rival — one that has plagued Illinois for years — and frenzied home support was the dream send-off for Illinois’ three seniors.

“That's probably the best way Jordyn (Poulter), Blayke (Hranicka) and I could go out on our home court,” said senior middle blocker Ali Bastianelli after her final home match. “After losing to a Big Ten team last year in the Sweet Sixteen, being able to redeem ourselves this year in the Elite Eight against a very good Wisconsin team, it’s really special. It speaks to our work ethic. We get in every day, and it's a grind. It's moments like this that it really pays off.”

The Illini will now head to Minneapolis for a rubber match against defending national champions Nebraska, the No. 7 seed who swept No. 15 seed Oregon 3-0 on Saturday. The Illini and Huskers (28-6) play 8 p.m. CT Thursday on ESPN.

“This is a sweet one, but like I mentioned, we're not done yet,” Tamas said.

Tamas knows the Cornhuskers well. He won a national championship with Nebraska in 2015 as an assistant and his team split a pair of four-set matches in Champaign and Lincoln in October.

No player on the Illinois roster has played past the Sweet Sixteen. It had been somewhat of a roadblock for the program since the 2011 runner-up campaign. But that relative inexperience at one of the sport’s biggest stages isn’t something that concerns the Illini — at all.

“Chris is the only one on our staff who has been here in this position before, none of us players have ever been past the Sweet Sixteen,” senior setter Jordyn Poulter said. “I think, just trying to put into words for us, to not let the moment get any bigger than it is has been something Chris has done a great job in managing how we approach the matches. It is easy for the lights to get bigger in a situation like this.”

But Illinois is playing like a team that’s been there, done that. This team seems to relish the big stage.

It showed against Wisconsin, a team that had won nine-straight coming into the match.

While a point was under video review at 18-17 in the third set (an objectively tense moment), the Illini bench started The Wave. The Huff crowd caught on quick, and Wisconsin was awarded the point after the review. But it didn’t matter to Illinois. It was just one point, not a defining moment in an Elite Eight match.

Not long after, Poulter and freshman defensive specialist Taylor Kuper got tangled up while trying to dig a ball slammed down near the 10-foot line. A loud cheer arose out of the sizable contingent of Wisconsin fans in a tight set, and the pair’s efforts were futile — they directly impeded each other’s path to the ball — but each sprang back up. Kuper jogged back a few paces, and Poulter joined her in the team’s huddle. Then snap, it was over. One could have nearly missed the sequence by blinking.

Outside hitter Jacqueline Quade is probably used to being asked to explain her teammates’ laid-back, jovial attitude on the court.

“We know what we're about,” Quade told Illini Inquirer. “We do the same thing every day, we know who we are. Just that confidence that at the end the day, that we're doing all the right things.”

Another mantra for Illinois this year has been focusing on each match, refusing to look further down the schedule.

“I think (the difference is) the way that we approach the day-to-day,” Poulter told Illini Inquirer. “It really does, for this group of people, it makes the biggest difference for us. I think that's how we have gotten to the spot we're in now. This didn't just happen in one season. There was all the work last season that helped lead up to this.”

Now, the Illini will attempt to turn a 32-win season and flowing confidence into a national title next week in Minneapolis.

“We really do have a team of people that are awesome,” Tamas said. “Not just our own team here, but the staff, family at home and the general support from the Spike Squad, Champaign-Urbana, the University of Illinois, Josh Whitman. Everyone did really, really fantastic for two years. I'm just really happy for the team here, that we're in this spot right now, and the best part is we're not done yet.”

It’s a self-belief that the team credits to its teary-eyed, proud coach.

“Chris has come in and he's actually changed this program around,” Bastianelli said. “We’re so thankful that this coaching staff we have is here. The past few years, it's not that we changed big things, it's little things that maybe we didn't think about before. I think the confidence that the coaches instill in us every day and that we instill in each other every day in practice just carries through the games. We're very confident in each other. Two years before this, who knows if I would say that. I trust every single person on this team and I know they feel the same way about me.”