After a disappointing loss in Minneapolis earlier this week, the No. 11 Wisconsin volleyball team (7-3 Big Ten, 15-5 overall) marched into Iowa and took down the Hawkeyes 30-19, 26-30, 30-24, 30-21 to close out the first half of the Big Ten season Saturday night. The win leaves the Badgers tied with No. 14 Purdue for third place in the conference.
""This is more Big Ten volleyball on the road. It is just tough to go into the opponent's gym, and they're playing good volleyball,"" UW head coach Pete Waite said. ""It's not magic every day, that's the challenge.""
Despite the fact that Iowa (1-9, 12-10) forced a fourth game by winning game two, Wisconsin put on a fairly impressive performance for the night, especially on defense. As a team, the Badgers came up with 88 digs, led by junior libero Jocelyn Wack and junior defensive specialist Megan Mills, who recorded 25 and 15 digs respectively. Wisconsin also put up more blocks as a team than Iowa, stuffing 13 shots to the Hawkeyes' 11. Junior middle blocker Taylor Reineke was responsible for seven block assists while senior middle blocker Amy Bladow made four assists and a solo to add to that total.
""That is something we want to stress all the time and really increase ... fight harder on defense,"" Waite said.
In Saturday's lineup, senior setter and assistant team captain Katie Lorenzen saw significant playing time in three matches, putting up 23 assists while relieving junior setter Jackie Simpson, who came up with 38 assists of her own and threw down four kills.
For the fourth time in five matches, senior outside hitter Maria Carlini was an obvious absence in the first two games. Freshman outside hitter Caity DuPont once again stepped in to take her place before Carlini was called off the bench to play in the last two games. Carlini finished the night with 3 kills and a .300 hitting percentage.
""Maria brought a lot of energy. She got some good swings and some good blocks for the team,"" Waite said.
The Hawkeyes nearly forced a fifth game by playing tough in the fourth. Iowa maintained the lead throughout until three kills by freshman outside hitter Brittney Dolgner and a hitting error by the Hawkeyes help put the Badgers up 18-17 and pave the way to victory. Dolgner tied her season-high kill total with 25 against Iowa.
Wisconsin will return home to start the second half of its Big Ten season against two very difficult teams in No. 2 Penn State and No. 24 Ohio State next weekend at the UW Field House. The Badgers will be looking to redeem themselves after losing to both Penn State and Ohio State on the road just two weeks ago.
—uwbadgers.com
contributed to this report.
