In its first weekend sweep since a trip to Illinois in early September, the No. 10 UW volleyball team (11-3 Big Ten, 19-5 overall) picked up wins at Michigan (5-9, 18-9) and Michigan State (6-8, 15-9) this weekend to keep a four-game conference winning streak alive. Wisconsin now moves into a second place tie in the Big Ten alongside No. 12 Minnesota with the sweep.
Friday night's game against the Wolverines ended in a 30-26, 30-14, 30-25 sweep, thanks in large part to terrific defensive play by the Badgers. Wisconsin outblocked Michigan 11 to three, including three solo blocks from senior outside hitter Maria Carlini and two from senior middle blocker Amy Bladow. The Badgers also pulled away with more digs than their opponent, amassing 52 digs to the Wolverines' 37. Junior libero Jocelyn Wack led all players with 17 digs on the night.
Offensively, Wisconsin also put up some strong numbers. As a team, the Badgers hit .315 and had 50 kills. Junior middle blocker Taylor Reineke and junior setter Jackie Simpson led the assault with .467 and .833 hitting percentages respectively and only one error between the two of them.
""I think we really picked up where we left off back at the Field House,"" UW head coach Pete Waite said. ""Our whole team realized there's another level they can play. They played together in this match, Jackie dispersed the ball well; the passers did well ... Our kids came out like it was a home match. It was a big win for us.""
The match against Michigan State on Saturday night was not the same dominating performance Wisconsin had put up in its last three conference games, but it was good enough to defeat the Spartans 30-20, 23-30, 30-21, 30-22. The Badgers only managed two more kills than the Spartans in the match, but they spread the ball evenly, allowing Carlini, Bladow, Reineke, freshman outside hitter Brittney Dolgner and sophomore outside hitter Audra Jeffers to all put up double-digit kill totals for the night. With a final hitting percentage of .362, Wisconsin came away with its fourth consecutive match of hitting better than .300.
In addition, Wisconsin's blocking game once again caused a headache for its opponent. The Badgers outblocked the Spartans 14 to four, thanks in large part to five assists and a solo block by Reineke. She leads the Big Ten in blocking and also boasted the sixth-best blocks per game percentage in the nation going into the weekend.
Michigan State did put up some notable numbers of its own. Outside hitters Ashley Schatzle and Katie Johnson threw down 22 and 17 kills respectively. The Spartans also came up with considerably more digs than the Badgers, outdigging them 50 to 36.
""It's a great weekend to go on the road here in Michigan,"" Waite said. ""Michigan State especially got a couple plays in there early ... [and] we had trouble stopping them. Jackie [Simpson] dispersed the ball well and we had five players in double-digit kills, which is awfully hard to stop on offense. I think our defense picked up, and our blocking picked up after the second game ... we were challenged and we lived up to it.""
The Badgers will return home next weekend to take on Northwestern and Illinois at the UW Field House.
—uwbadgers.com
contributed to this report.
