The Wisconsin volleyball team (12-6 Big Ten, 18-8 overall) sent seniors Marian Weidner and Jill Odenthal out in style with its two victories in the team's last homestand of the season.
The Badgers were on a three-game skid before heading into Friday night's match against Michigan (8-9, 18-10) but had no problem disposing of the Wolverines in three games (30-24, 31-29, 30-25). Outside hitter Odenthal, junior middle blocker Sheila Shaw and sophomore middle blocker Maria Carlini all tallied 13 kills to lead the Badger attack. Carlini also recorded a career-high .550 hitting percentage.
Wisconsin, which is known as one of the better blocking teams in the Big Ten, did fall behind Michigan in the blocking statistics. The Wolverines out-blocked the Badgers 8.5-5 and Michigan had three players who tallied block assists. Although Michigan had the advantage in blocking, Wisconsin controlled the dig tally (56-49), thanks to freshman libero Jocelyn Wack's 15 digs.
\Normally, we're a team who outblocks opponents,"" Wisconsin Head Coach Pete Waite said following the match. ""But tonight, Michigan did a nice job of avoiding our block and we did a good job of digging around the block, and that's the important part we've been missing recently.""
Saturday's game produced similar results though the Badgers had a slow start before garnering the win. They dropped their first game 20-30 against Michigan State (12-14, 7-11) but then went on to take the next three matches 30-28, 30-27 and 30-22 to close out the team's season at the Field House.
""I think our team started very slowly and just were not in rhythm at all, so they really had to fight hard, and we really had to search for different ways to get every point and get back on track with our play and eventually get the win,"" Waite said.
Carlini again topped all the hitters but this time she was the lone leader with a career-high 19 kills. Shaw and junior outside hitter Aubrey Meierotto also added 13 and 12 kills respectively. Despite the double-digit kill tallies by the Badgers, Michigan State led the category 68-62.
The Badgers still have one last weekend on the regular season schedule before they start to prepare for their ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The team travels out to Indiana next weekend to take on both Purdue and Indiana and then heads back to Madison to await announcements for their placement in the tournament Sunday, Nov. 28.
""We got our two wins at home and now we know we've got two tough road games,"" Waite said. ""Purdue's been playing some great ball and we hit them right away so we've got to prepare well this week, and we also have Thanksgiving thrown in the middle of that, so it's a great challenge for us.""
-UWbadgers.com contributed
to this report.
