In its final scheduled spring match of the season, the UW volleyball team finished the academic year on a strong note, defeating in-state rival Marquette in four games by scores of 30-24, 30-16, 30-25 and 30-22 Friday at the UW Field House. The dominant performance by the Badgers was just as much of a morale boost as it was an outright victory, as the team has struggled through numerous injuries and illnesses since starting its exhibition season in March.
""Overall [I'm] really pleased, considering how many starters we have out right now with injury or illness,"" UW head coach Pete Waite said. ""It's been a tough spring. Almost every day, someone has gone down with an injury, so to come out here with a different lineup each time and play a solid game, I was really happy with it.""
Only three players from last fall's starting seven suited up to play Friday. Freshman outside hitter Brittney Dolgner and junior setter Jackie Simpson started the match in their customary positions, but junior Jocelyn Wack was once again moved from her libero position to help out on the outside hitting position, just as she did against UW-Milwaukee in March. She had 20 hits and six kills on the night and led all players with three service aces.
With junior outside hitter Audra Jeffers, junior middle blocker Taylor Reineke, sophomore defensive specialist Faye McCormack and freshman outside hitter Caity DuPont on the bench with medical impediments, a trio of relatively unfamiliar faces had the opportunity to step up and make some major contributions.
Freshman Katherine Dykstra moved over from the middle to hit on the right side finished the night 12-of-15 hitting with only one error and led all players with a .733 hitting percentage. Sophomore outside hitter Morgan Salow had 18 hits of her own and combined with Dykstra to put up 6.5 blocks on the night. Junior middle blocker Maya Carroll also had a major impact on the court, going 5-for-17 hitting with four errors and a block and a half of her own.
""[Carroll] has done a nice job,"" Waite said. ""There's a player who didn't get any court time in the fall and is hitting everything in the spring and really improving all the time. She's just getting much more composed on the court and not making the errors she was in the fall.""
Redshirt freshman setter Nikki Klingsporn also saw significant action in the last three games of the match, acting as the lone setter in games two and three. She led the team with 22 assists on the night and also had the opportunity to show off her jump serve, an effective weapon for the Badger offense. In game four, Waite put both Klingsporn and Simpson in the game to try out a two-setter lineup, a technique that was never used in the fall season with Simpson and then-senior setter Katie Lorenzen.
""You run a 6-2 offense is what it's called,"" Waite said. ""And if they can both hit and we can get a big block in for Nikki, then we can do some good things. It was nice to see both setters get out there and do a nice job tonight.""
With the spring season behind them, Wisconsin will begin preparing for a tour of Europe from May 30 to June 12, where they will play a few international teams while visiting Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and the Czech Republic. Upon its return, the team will be joined by incoming freshmen Allison Wack—younger sister of Jocelyn Wack—and Muncie, Ind., standout Kim Kuzma and will open the 2007 season with the InnTowner Invitational at the UW Field House Aug. 24-25. A new chapter for the current Badger squad will likely be a welcomed prospect after the medically taxing spring it had to endure.
""When you have this many injuries ... it's hard to even practice,"" Waite said. ""But the team has hung in there, and this is what we've been aiming for, to finish strong here. We're heading to a foreign trip and we want to be even healthier for that and hopefully we'll get a few more people back on the court.""
