For a team that has been nothing short of automatic at home since September, the No. 10 Wisconsin volleyball team (13-3 Big Ten, 21-5 overall) got a wake up call this weekend in a pair of tight matches against unranked conference opponents. The Badgers beat Northwestern (7-9, 13-12) Friday and Illinois (14-12, 5-11) Saturday to extend their conference winning streak to seven matches, but neither victory came easy for the team.
The Wildcats came into the match as the underdogs, but it was Wisconsin who ended up playing catch-up much of the night in their 30-23, 30-19, 24-30, 29-31, 15-13 win. Twelve service errors by Northwestern helped the Badgers jump out to an early two game lead, but the Wildcats came out in the second half looking like a totally different team. Five kills by outside hitter Lindsay Anderson and five blocks by middle blocker Chelsy Hyser fueled a solid third-game performance that gave Northwestern the win—the first game won by an opponent in the UW Field House since August 26.
Despite pulling ahead by four on two occasions and eventually reaching the 29-27 game point mark in the fourth game, Wisconsin struggled to close the match and lost the round thanks to four consecutive Northwestern points from two kills and two UW attack errors. Game five proved to be equally close and looked to be a repeat of game four when the Wildcats got within one at 14-13, but a powerful kill down the center of the court by freshman outside hitter Brittney Dolgner put an end to the match and gave the Badgers the win.
""I don't really know why, but it was a struggle for us tonight,"" UW head coach Pete Waite said Friday night. ""We did not play the way we have been playing. I think a number of players did not bring their best game to the court tonight, and I think we were carried by some clutch plays by a freshman—by Brittney Dolgner. She really saved us tonight.""
Certainly, Dolgner was the one who carried an otherwise sluggish Badger offense throughout the match. Her 30 kills were a career high for her and more importantly, Dolgner stepped up and made plays at critical moments when no one else on the team seemed to be able to pull through.
""I think she made some huge plays all over the court tonight,"" Waite said. ""Strange thing is, she bumped her knee a couple of days ago. We didn't know if she'd play tonight, but she came through and was phenomenal ... She was in a groove and it was good that Jackie [Simpson] got her the ball as many times as she did.""
Saturday's match against Illinois was not quite as close, but the 30-16, 28-30, 30-22, 30-19 win was less than impressive. After a solid first game, the Illini surprised the Badgers in the second and took off with a win after the game was tied 24-24. Wisconsin again laid down a good performance in game three, but found itself behind from the get-go in the fourth. Facing a grim 17-11 score, the Badgers went on an 11-point run, including four kills by senior outside hitter Maria Carlini. Wisconsin only gave up two more points before rounding out the match.
""I'm pleased with the win,"" Waite said. ""We had a little lull in the second game, but I think we made some adjustments that worked out for us. I was pleased to see that our team was playing with a little more attitude, and really it started when we were down [by] six in the fourth. At that point they really kicked it into gear and really started fighting and that's the thing that we needed to do.""
Sophomore outside hitter Audra Jeffers had an outstanding night, hitting a career-best .722 on 18 shots without a single error. Senior middle blocker Amy Bladow also made it a career night by contributing nine blocks.
The Badgers will round out their regular season home games this week when they take on Minnesota Wednesday and Iowa Friday at the UW Field House.
