On a night that included the student section taking the role of the band, a kicked ball ultimately aiding a Badger point and multiple milestones being collected, Friday's match certainly was not a typical one for the No. 8 UW volleyball team (7-1 Big Ten, 15-2 overall). Nonetheless, the result was the usual one, as they were able to disassemble Indiana's (1-7, 8-12) defense in decisive fashion, winning 30-14, 30-25, 30-12.
\I thought our team played really well tonight,"" head coach Pete Waite said. ""I was happy with the way we came out in the first game.""
With the win, Waite attained his 100th Big Ten victory, just a few weeks after becoming the all-time winningest volleyball coach in UW history.
""I don't really look at a number, [but] it's a nice milestone,"" Waite said. ""It's a tough conference and you have to battle all the time.""
Right from the start, Wisconsin jumped on the Hoosiers and never let up. Their defense was stifling as they held Indiana to a .081 hitting percentage and forced 21 errors (compared to their 31 kills). Only one Hoosier had more than seven kills, and the Badgers' serving kept their offense out of sync all night.
The offense had an even better evening, pulling out arguably their best performance of the year. Junior setter Katie Lorenzen had the offense in tune for the entire match with 50 assists, leading to a .413 hitting percentage, a season high. Lorenzen even got into the attacking act with a spike of her own. Match-high kill honors, though, belonged to junior Maria Carlini and senior Aubrey Meierotto with 15 each. Even more significant for Meierotto, however, was the fact that her ninth kill of the night gave her 1,000 for her illustrious career.
""It feels good, I'm glad that it happened at home,"" Meierotto said. ""I think being here for my fifth year, it was a definite goal for me.""
After a nice couple of weeks at home, Wisconsin now has a four-game road trip in front of them. Next weekend includes Michigan and Michigan State, but the circled date on players' calendars is Oct. 28, the rematch against Penn State.
