Home court advantage was not so advantageous for the No. 7 UW volleyball team (12-2 Big Ten, 20-3 overall) this weekend, as the team gave up a 21-30, 30-25, 26-30, 28-30 win to Michigan State (6-8, 15-11) Friday and struggled to a narrow 30-23, 27-30, 35-37, 30-26, 17-15 victory over Northwestern (6-8, 15-10) Saturday.
Michigan State's win marks its second victory over a ranked conference opponent in as many weeks, a strong indication that while Wisconsin and No. 1 Penn State are by and large the conference frontrunners, the Big Ten still has tough teams in the middle of the pack that are capable of taking a match on any given week.
This was the Badgers' first loss to an unranked opponent since September 2006, when Wisconsin lost to UC-Santa Barbara in five games at the San Diego Invitational Tournament.
I've been saying that these teams in the conference are very strong, very physical, and playing some very good ball,"" UW head coach Pete Waite said. ""Michigan State showed that.""
The Spartans came out of their corner swinging hard in the first game of Friday's match, hitting .280 as a team compared to the .071 average that the Badgers posted to start the night. Despite a minor resurgence by Wisconsin to capture the second round, Michigan State pulled up an impressive number of digs to counter the Badger attack, outdigging them 72-63 on the match.
In their last effort to keep the match alive, the Badgers posted a marginal 27-26 lead late in the fourth game, but kills from Michigan State's senior outside hitters Katie Johnson and Ashley Schatzle put the Spartans up by one.
Wisconsin knotted the game up at 28 on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Brittney Dolgner, but on the next play, a hit by Schatzle that appeared to have gone out of bounds was ruled in by the up official to give Michigan State the lead. A Badger attack error on the next point gave the Spartans the match.
""We didn't come out with the same energy and focus that has gotten us to this point in the season,"" Waite said. ""It was clear we were pretty flat at the beginning and [we] were battling back to find that throughout the match. I think there were times we saw our normal team, but it was just in spurts.""
Saturday's match against Northwestern proved to be nearly as difficult as the match on the previous night. After hitting .429 as a team and taking a one game lead, the Wildcat defense picked itself up and outblocked the Badgers eight to three in the next two games. Freshman outside hitter Alison Wack and junior outside hitter Morgan Salow, both called in from the bench in game two, provided the offensive spark that Wisconsin needed to get back on track in the fourth.
Wack and Salow combined for 10 kills on 17 attempts in that round and added a block apiece. Game five saw Northwestern on the cusp of victory at a 15-14 match point, but kills from Wack and Salow turned the tables for the Badgers, who sealed a victory on a block from Dolgner and junior middle blocker Audra Jeffers one play later.
Wisconsin will have less time than usual to prepare for their next opponent this week, as Illinois (7-7, 15-9) comes to town Wednesday night to battle in the UW Field House. The Badgers will need to regain their focus in order to take down the Illini, who have surprisingly found themselves in third place in the Big Ten standings.
""[The team has] to find how hard they've got to work to get it to that level,"" Waite said. ""They have to really drive and push and individually get themselves up there, and then as a team do it. They've played at a very high level all season long, and we know they can get right back to that. But they've got to come out with a little more desire for every point, a little more urgency to win.
