One week after dropping its first conference match of the season, the No. 8 UW volleyball team (11-1 Big Ten, 19-2 overall) got back on a winning track and defeated Indiana (5-7, 14-10) on Friday and Purdue (6-6, 13-10) on Saturday. Neither match was a sweep for the Badgers, but the 30-23, 30-20, 29-31, 28-30, 16-14 win over the Hoosiers and the 30-14, 30-19, 26-30, 30-23 rout of the Boilermakers keeps Wisconsin in the race for the Big Ten title alongside conference leader, No. 2 Penn State.
It was a good finish for a Big Ten road weekend for us,"" UW head coach Pete Waite said. ""Both teams - Purdue and Indiana - are teams who are battling to move up in the conference race and it was good to separate ourselves from both of those teams.""
Despite jumping out to a two-game lead, Friday night's match against the Hoosiers proved to be a shootout. Coming off of a .645, error-free performance in game two, the Badgers started to struggle on offense late in the third set, hitting only .191 and getting outblocked 3-2. The fourth game found Wisconsin up 25-21 before IU scored four straight points to tie the game and eventually finish off the Badgers down the stretch with a pair of blocks and a kill from sophomore outside hitter Kelsey Hall. The last game in the match remained close throughout, as evidenced by the game's 11 ties. At 12-12, Indiana stuffed a shot and made a kill to reach match point, but Wisconsin rallied back with kills from junior middle blocker Audra Jeffers and sophomore outside hitter Brittney Dolgner to tie the game again and send the match into extra points. Another kill by Jeffers put the Badgers in position to win, and a block by sophomore opposite hitter Katherine Dykstra sealed the game for Wisconsin.
""I've always been happy with the composure of this team,"" Waite said. ""They did well down near the stretch holding them off on some match points and coming back to get the win. We got the win, so we're proud of them for that.""
The match against the Hoosiers featured a slew of career-high performances from several Badgers. Freshman outside hitter Allison Wack threw down 19 kills while senior middle blocker Taylor Reineke made 17 of her own to surpass their previous career marks. Reineke also tied a personal best in the serving department with two aces. Senior setter Jackie Simpson tallied a season-high 71 assists, but reached a personal best in digs with 17. Dolgner also hit a career-high in digs with 19.
Saturday's match against Purdue featured a premier blocking effort by the Badgers. Wisconsin outblocked the Boilermakers 21-8, and came up with eight blocks in the second game alone. Reineke improved on her career weekend, stuffing a personal best 14 blocks with one solo block and 13 block assists. Jeffers also blocked well on the night, posting a solo block of her own and six block assists. Freshman defensive specialist Kim Kuzma made her presence known on defense as well, coming up with a career-best 18 digs.
After Wisconsin jumped out to a two game lead, the Boilermakers changed their lineup in the third set and successfully improved their offense. Despite a 22-17 deficit, Purdue went on a 9-2 run to take the lead at 26-24 and hold on for the win. But a more focused offensive attack in game four brought the Badgers back in game four. A Purdue hitting error and a kill from Wack gave Wisconsin a 20-18 lead late in the fourth that the Boilermakers would not be able to catch.
""We had some people have some great nights, with Taylor Reineke having a personal best blocking and Kim Kuzma on defense,"" Waite said. ""We're still looking for ways to improve and we had to tweak the lineup a little bit, but we're getting deeper and we're getting better.""
The Badgers will return home this weekend to begin a four match home stand. They will face Michigan State (5-7, 14-10) Friday and Northwestern (5-7, 14-9) Saturday.
- uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
