EVANSTON, ILL. - o The No. 9 UW volleyball team (11-1 overall, 3-0 Big Ten) started off its second weekend of conference play with a challenging match at Northwestern (1-2, 10-4), where it held off the Wildcats for a 30-28, 30-20, 25-30, 30-24 victory Friday night. The Badgers fought to take a two game lead to start the night but faced a surge from Northwestern that caused them to lose the third before coming from behind to take the last game and walk away with their third conference win.
It was a close first game and we actually came from behind, so I was pretty pleased with that,"" UW head coach Pete Waite said after Friday's match. ""[Northwestern] played better and we were a little flat in that third game. Even in the fourth, we were down ... I actually think we tied it up at nine and I thought that was great. We grabbed the momentum back, and [I'm] real proud of the kids coming in.""
The first game started off quickly for Wisconsin, who jumped out to a 5-0 lead but was soon tested by a strong Northwestern attack. The game would be tied up 10 times with four lead changes, but UW senior middle blocker Taylor Reineke would step in on two blocks to bring the Badgers out of a 27-27 tie up to 29-27, and sophomore opposite hitter Katherine Dykstra sealed the game with a kill two possessions later.
In the next round, the Badgers put together a stronger attack and never found themselves behind after an error by the Wildcats' standout redshirt freshman Brittani Gray put them ahead 2-1. Sophomore outside hitter Brittney Dolgner dominated the net, hitting .571 and helping out on two blocks during the game. Dykstra and junior outside hitter Audra Jeffers also did well, hitting .500 and .400, respectively, and combining for two blocks.
Things began to unravel following a scare on the Northwestern side of the net when outside hitter Courtnie Paulus went down with an apparent knee injury, despite a 9-5 Wisconsin lead in the third game. The Wildcats rallied and eventually caught up to the Badgers late, tying the game at 22 on a kill by Northwestern's Stephanie Jurivich. Kills by Reineke and sophomore outside hitter Caity DuPont could not hold off Northwestern's charge, as the Wildcats outscored the UW 8-3 to finish the round. The Wildcats hit .469 for the game, led by Gray, who was eight for 11 during that game.
Again the Badgers found themselves in a hole, starting off the last game down 2-8 thanks to a few blocks by the Wildcats and Gray's hitting, but a pair of blocks and a kill by Dykstra got the Badgers rolling again. DuPont threw down kills for four of the last five Badger points, but Dykstra put the cap on the night with a kill down the middle. She finished with a team-high .382 hitting percentage and had 15 kills, second only to Dolgner's 23 kills to lead all players.
""It's always tough on the road in the Big Ten, but I am disappointed,"" Waite said. ""We could've played more clean, more crisp, just fired up more. We just let them get the momentum back and that's what's going to happen. They were fighting for their lives and they got that game from us. [It's] good we came back in the fourth and got it right back on our side of the court.
