On a disappointing weekend across the board for the Badger faithful, the UW volleyball team (5-1 Big Ten, 13-2 overall) had its share of ups and downs. In the clouds after dominating No. 18 Ohio State (3-3, 10-5) on Friday, No. 8 Wisconsin was brought back to Earth on Saturday with a surprisingly quick defeat against No. 4 Penn State (6-0, 14-2) that snapped their 15-match home winning streak. But even after the tough defeat, the team remains optimistic.
\I think Penn State did a lot of things flawlessly,"" head coach Pete Waite said. ""They showed us some things that we can learn from and improve on.""
The tendency to look past Friday's matchup with OSU toward Penn State was probably tempting for the Badgers, but they would have none of that. UW handled Ohio State easily, sweeping the Buckeyes 30-25, 30-18, 30-20.
""We took a very good team and played well against them in every category,"" Waite said.
""Blocking was big, and our passing was really on,"" added junior Maria Carlini, who had four of the team's 15 blocks, a season high for a three-game match.
After an evenly matched game one, Wisconsin put the screws to OSU defensively, holding them to a .023 and .075 hitting percentage in the final two games. Leading defensively was senior Sheila Shaw, who had a team-high nine blocks to go along with her nine kills on the offensive end.
Sophomore Jackie Simpson crisply set up the offense with 36 assists, and serving specialist Megan Mills added a service ace for the ninth straight match. Shaw was not the only one contributing on offense and defense, as Carlini had her fifth double-double of the season, with 12 kills and 10 digs.
Although Friday's match may have been important, the main event was the confrontation with Penn State on Saturday, as almost 6,800 people (the third-highest attendance in UW volleyball history) packed the Field House to hopefully see an upset. A victory was not to be had, however, as the Lions came out firing and never let up, sweeping the Badgers 30-21, 30-25, 30-22.
""I thought Penn State played a great match,"" Waite said. ""There's a reason why they're top four in the country.""
The main weapon that kept Wisconsin off guard all night long was senior setter Sam Tortorello, who had five kills for a .500 hitting percentage to go with 40 assists.
Tortorello's quick setting and ability to dump the ball over the net kept the defense off balance and the offense out of rhythm.
""She's a really quick setter, and she's really deceptive,"" sophomore middle blocker Taylor Reineke said.
""They just had a quicker offense, we never knew where the setter was going to set,"" freshman Audra Jeffers added.
Putting down Tortorello's sets were Harmotto and Nicole Fawcett, who had 13 and 11 kills, respectively. On the defensive end, Melissa Walbridge had eight blocks while Kaleena Walters supplemented 18 digs. For Wisconsin, Jeffers had a team-high 11 kills and .333 hitting percentage. Sophojavascript:replaceBreaks();more Jocelyn Wack had 20 digs, extending her double-figure digs streak to an amazing 46 matches.
""When you play a better team they take you out of the game you like to play, that's what we've done to a lot of teams and that's what they did to us tonight,"" Waite said. ""We want to be right up there with them and we have to improve a lot before we play them again."" The next meeting is Oct. 28 at Penn State.
