The No. 11 UW volleyball team rounded out its regular season schedule this weekend with a pair of sweeps and a remarkable milestone for head coach Pete Waite. The Badgers (16-4 Big Ten, 23-6 overall) took to the road for their last two Big Ten matches of the year, beating both Indiana (1-19, 10-22) and No. 22 Purdue (11-9, 21-10) in three games to give Waite his 200th career victory as head coach at Wisconsin.
Friday night, the Badgers faced a Hoosier team that sits at the bottom of the Big Ten, but UW struggled to get into a rhythm offensively in the 30-21, 30-26, 30-16 victory. Wisconsin hit .157 as a team and only sophomore outside hitter Audra Jeffers managed to get into double-digits with a team-high 11 kills.
But the Badgers managed to get the job done thanks to a highly productive defensive effort. Their 14 team blocks helped limit the Indiana hitting percentage to -.054, a season low for Badger opponents this year. Senior middle blocker Amy Bladow led all players with eight blocks, including two solos. Junior libero Jocelyn Wack and senior outside hitter Maria Carlini each came up with 13 digs, accounting for nearly half of Wisconsin's 58 digs on the night.
""I thought it was a good night for us defensively,"" Waite said. ""A lot of people were playing well, including Wack and Carlini. Offensively we weren't exactly clicking on all cylinders. Hopefully against Purdue it will all come together. Overall it was a good team effort ... it's a good win on the road for us.""
The team did come together against Purdue on the following night, coming up with more blocks, digs and kills in its 30-27, 30-22, 30-21 rout over the Boilermakers. The offensive charge was led by Bladow, who had eight kills and led the team with a .538 hitting percentage. Junior middle blocker Taylor Reineke added eight kills of her own and five blocks while freshman outside hitter Brittney Dolgner led all players with 15 kills and a team-high 12 digs.
""It's a great number to reach,"" Waite said after getting his 200th win at Purdue. ""With any milestone you hit you think about all the players that helped you get there and coaches that have helped you get there.""
The wins this weekend gave Wisconsin a third-place finish in the Big Ten conference and instilled a great sense of momentum in the team at a time when they likely needed it the most—just one week before the start of the NCAA tournament.
""I'm really happy with the confidence we're playing with and the momentum we have right now,"" Waite said. ""Two weeks ago we hit a plateau where we had to figure our way out of it and had to fight to get back on track. Now I think that we're feeling good together.""
The NCAA tournament bracket was released Sunday, and the Badgers will remain at home for the first two rounds, facing Notre Dame Friday to start off the tournament. If Wisconsin wins Friday, they play the winner of the Iowa State-UW-Milwaukee matchup occurring Friday.
—uwbadgers.com
contributed to this report.
