Following a weekend to forget against Michigan State and Northwestern, the No. 11 UW volleyball team (13-2 Big Ten, 21-3 overall) got back on the winning track Wednesday with a dominant 30-14, 30-23, 30-28 sweep of Illinois (7-8, 15-10) in the UW Field House. Wisconsin pulled out the win to keep hold of second place in the conference, behind Penn State, despite the fact that Illinois has been better on the road this year than at home.
I think we've done a great job of staying up at the top of the pack with Penn State,"" UW head coach Pete Waite said. ""Now we've continued to separate ourselves with a win tonight.""
The Illini came into the match tied for third place in the Big Ten and were looking to repeat the upset performance Michigan State pulled off against the Badgers Friday.
But right from the gates, Wisconsin came out swinging and squelched any hopes of an Illinois victory. In her first start of the season, junior outside hitter Morgan Salow hit .333 in the first game of the night and tallied a block assist. As a team, the Badgers hit .652 in the first set and served up four aces, while holding the Illini to a paltry .030 hitting.
The second game brought more of the same from the Wisconsin offense. Senior middle blocker Taylor Reineke hit five of her match-high 13 kills while sophomore outside hitters Caity DuPont, Brittney Dolgner and junior middle blocker Audra Jeffers each added three of their own. Illinois' senior middle blocker Vicki Brown managed to get around the Badger block in that round, hitting five of six with only one error, but the team still only managed to hit .171 as a unit.
The Illini had the chance to send the match into extra games by taking a 28-26 lead late in the third, but the Badgers posted a four-point comeback capped off by a Reineke kill and a block by Reineke and senior setter Jackie Simpson.
""It was great that we came back to tie it up,"" Waite said. ""Then [senior defensive specialist Amanda] Berkley went back there and nailed a great serve to get 29-28 for us and finished off with a nice block at the end.""
The UW defense not only finished the night with a block, but they managed to post 10 more earlier in the match and hold Brown and star freshman outside hitter Laura DeBruler to .227 and .171 for the night. Reineke led all players for the night with .600 hitting, while DuPont posted .556 on 11 of 18 hitting with just one error.
""I'm happy with that win,"" Waite said after the match. ""I feel like we got back on track. We were playing better ball. We took two very good hitters who have been doing well all season with [Laura] DeBruler and [Vicki] Brown and really kept their hitting percentages down and their kill totals down, and I think that was the big difference in the match.""
The Badgers now have two days to prepare for a match against Michigan (7-7, 19-7) Friday. The Wolverines have been ranked in the nation's top 25 for most of the year but recently fell out of the rankings two weeks ago after losing two straight matches to Michigan State and Northwestern. Michigan ranks fourth in the conference in both hitting percentage and kills and has the conference leader in digs with senior libero Stesha Selsky, who has been averaging 5.77 digs per game. But the Badgers have what it takes to counter the Wolverine attack, touting the third best blocking record in the conference and ranking second in the Big Ten in hitting percentage.
Dolgner has been stellar on the offensive side of the net for Wisconsin, posting 4.87 kills per game and 5.50 points per game, good for second best among all players in the conference. The first serve for Friday's game is at 7 p.m. in the UW Field House.
