With a pair of crucial wins last week against Illinois and Michigan, the No. 9 Wisconsin volleyball team (14-2 Big Ten, 22-3 overall) will face its most important conference match of the season when the Badgers travel to Penn State to take on the No. 1 Nittany Lions (16-0, 24-2) Friday night.
Wisconsin is looking to spoil Penn State's unblemished conference record, returning the favor the Nittany Lions gave the Badgers nearly four weeks ago. The last match between these two teams was a five-game shootout that ended on a controversial call and resulted in a Penn State victory and the first conference loss of the season for the Badgers.
We didn't play as well as we had hoped,"" senior middle blocker Taylor Reineke said about the last match against Penn State. ""But I think we're going to step it up this week in practice and go in there pretty confident [Friday].""
Both the Badgers and the Nittany Lions have a lot riding on this match. Penn State will lock up the Big Ten title for the fifth consecutive year with a win. But a Wisconsin victory would keep the title race alive and move them to within one game of sharing first place in the conference standings.
However, the Badgers have struggled recently against their Big Ten opponents. In the last seven matches, four were stretched out to five games, and two resulted in losses, including a 1-3 loss at home to Michigan State two weeks ago.
""We've kind of been pressing a little too hard at points the last couple of matches rather than just sitting back and playing relaxed,"" senior setter Jackie Simpson said. ""So I guess the biggest thing is just making sure that we're always focused but still relaxed and playing the game.""
But statistics show that Wisconsin is still the force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten behind Penn State, ranking second in the conference in hitting percentage, third in blocking and fourth in kills. Sophomore outside hitter Brittney Dolgner has tallied the second-best kill count in the conference so far this season with 4.71 per game and has also been tallying 5.25 points per game. Reineke currently touts a .342 hitting percentage to rank among the Big Ten's best and also has the fourth best blocking average with 1.54 per game.
The challenge for Wisconsin will be stopping the Nittany Lion offense, which currently leads the conference in hitting percentage, assists, kills and service aces.
The trio of middle hitters that Penn State has in junior Christa Harmotto, freshman Arielle Wilson and freshman Blair Brown will be difficult to stop, as they occupy the first, second and third place standings in individual hitting percentage in the conference.
Sophomore outside hitter Megan Hodge sits right behind Dolgner in kills with 4.58 kills per game. Penn State's powerful play up front has led to sweeps in every conference game so far this year, except in the win against Wisconsin and a 3-2 victory in Illinois.
""We looked at what we needed to do to fix our blocking and our defense, which [are] two of the main things we need to work on this week in practice,"" Reineke said. ""I think we're fresh now...we're ready for this week.""
The Badgers will follow up the Penn State match with a trip to Ohio State (6-10, 12-13) on Monday. The Buckeyes have been struggling this year despite starting the season ranked No. 16 in the AVCA top-25 poll. Wisconsin's match against Ohio State will start at 7 p.m.
