The Wisconsin volleyball team (9-1 Big Ten, 17-2 overall) will hit the road for a Halloween weekend away from Madison. The Badgers will travel to Bloomington, Ind. Friday to take on Indiana (5-5, 14-8) and to West Lafayette, Ind., to play Purdue (6-4, 13-8) Saturday night.
Wisconsin, fresh off a home loss to Penn State last Sunday, will need to refocus as it enters the second round of Big Ten play this weekend. Although the Badgers swept both opponents in front of their home crowd in early October, the Badgers know a more difficult task awaits them on the road.
You can't look past anyone because anything can happen in the Big Ten,"" senior outside hitter Taylor Reineke said. ""Every team needs to be respected.""
""It's a new start for a lot of teams,"" senior Libero Jocelyn Wack added. ""The first half is over, and there are still 10 matches to play. You can't take any team for granted.""
When Indiana came to town earlier this month, the Badgers limited junior outside hitter Erica Short, who currently averages 4.28 kills per game, to just 10 kills while forcing the Hoosier standout to commit 10 hitting errors.
The Badger block was out in full force, totaling 14.5 team blocks on the night to Indiana's five. Sophomore outside hitter Brittney Dolgner led the Wisconsin attack with 16 kills, and freshman Allison Wack also added 12 from the outside. Wisconsin hit .376 on the night, holding Indiana to just a .107 hitting percentage.
In the first match between Wisconsin and Purdue, the Badgers held junior middle blocker Stephanie Lynch in check for most of the match. Lynch, who currently ranks third in the Big Ten hitting percentage, also leads the Boilers in kills and blocks per game with 3.88 and 1.25 respectively.
Wisconsin's Reineke collected five of the team's 11 blocks and added 10 kills in Madison and Dolgner once again led the Badger offense with 20 kills against the visiting Boilermakers.
""Going against Indiana and Purdue, we know that Indiana is a much better team than they were a year ago,"" Waite said, ""and we really have to be ready to play well at their place.
""The target is on our backs ,so we have to play at our level knowing they are coming at us with their best every single time,"" Waite added.
Wisconsin's senior starting core, led by Reineke, Jocelyn Wack and setter Jackie Simpson, is a big reason the Badgers have had a successful 2007 campaign. Through the first half of the Big Ten season, Wisconsin leads the conference in assists and kills per game, with two individuals ranked in the top 10 in blocks per game.
""This is the last stretch of the season,"" Reineke said. ""This is a lot of the seniors' last year, and we're going to try to make it the best that we can. We just have to stay focused on our goal, which is to win and play well in all of our matches.""
