The No. 14 Wisconsin women's volleyball team completed a weekend sweep of both Illinois Friday and Purdue Saturday night, at the UW Field House. The Badgers improved their record to 11-5 in the Big Ten and 20-7 overall and moved into a tie for second place in the conference standings. With dominating performances both nights, Head Coach Pete Waite was pleased with his team's effort.
\I think we looked very fresh and focused, and they played very well as a team,"" Waite said. ""I was really happy with our weekend.""
The Badgers came out well-rested against an Illinois team that has been struggling with injuries to several key starters. Junior setter Morgan Shields was able to spread out the ball among her hitters for the Badgers, due to great passing by her teammates.
""I think just getting off to a fast start and having excellent passing, and being able to move the offense around, we kind of automatically got the blockers thinking 'Oh no, what's going to happen next,'"" Shields said. ""The free-ball passing was there and their blockers were kind of on the run the whole game.""
Byrd had a phenomenal night, recording 20 kills along with 10 digs.
""I felt awesome in warm-ups,"" Byrd said, who only practiced once this week due to an exam she had Wednesday.
The defense for the Badgers in all three games was exceptional, led by Shields and junior libero Lisa Zukowski, who finished with 13 digs and 12 digs respectively.
""I thought our defense was really solid. If you're passing, your setter can give the ball to anybody, if you're swinging and you have split-blocks and you can either score or make them chase the ball to the net, and they get out of their offense,"" Waite said.
""They served very well as a team and I think the change by them with Zukowski in the libero position is very positive,"" Illini Head Coach Don Hardin said.
The Illini defeated the Badgers 3-1 earlier this season in Champaign, but could not sustain any offensive pressure against Wisconsin's strong defense.
""They blocked better than the last time we played them,"" Hardin said. ""Their defense was awesome.""
Hardin also felt that the deep servers for Wisconsin, especially the jump servers, bothered his team and contributed to poor passes to senior setter Betsy Eiserman.
Saturday night was much of the same for the Badgers, who dominated Purdue in all aspects of the game. Despite a late run by the Boilermakers and long rallies by both squads, the Badgers prevailed, 30-19. The second game was much of the same. The Badgers closed out game two with a score of 30-16.
In the third game, Wisconsin once again pulled out to a lead, but the Boilermakers kept the game close. However, UW did not look back, winning game three 30-26, and the match three games to none.
""Purdue's plan in game three was serving us short to try to take us out of our offense and they did a good job of it for awhile,"" Waite said.
The Badgers dominated the Boilermakers with 11 service aces and nearly doubled them in kills, 51-27. Hultgren led all hitters with 12 kills and Byrd added 11.
Shields finished the match with 41 assists and Waite was very pleased with her performance.
""This is one of her [Shields] best weekends as far as variety and where she is going with things,"" Waite said.
With Penn State's 3-0 loss Friday night to Ohio State, Wisconsin moved into a tie for second place in the conference.
""All we can do is take care of our own business right now, but if anybody else can help us, that's great,"" Waite said.
UW has four games remaining on their schedule. With 7,500 fans supporting the Badgers at the Field House this past weekend, Waite hopes that the fans continue to support the team during this critical stretch.
""The fans are fantastic. We need them for this stretch run and we still have [two] more home games, then we want to be hosting the NCAA tournament first and second round games. We need them to keep coming out and helping us out because they have been great,"" Waite said.
