With two wins this weekend in the UW Field House, the No. 20 Wisconsin volleyball team (2-2 Big Ten, 12-4 overall) got its season back on track by defeating No. 22 Michigan (2-2, 14-2)in five sets and swept Ohio State (1-3, 10-6).
The pair of wins puts Wisconsin in a six-way tie for third place in the Big Ten. Top-ranked Penn State (4-0, 16-0) and No. 12 Minnesota (4-0, 15-2) are atop the standings, two games ahead of the Badgers.
Friday night's match against the Wolverines started off relatively poorly for the Badgers, who gave up 21 points in the first two sets on attack errors and service errors. Despite solid offensive efforts by junior outside hitter Brittney Dolgner and senior middle blocker Audra Jeffers, who each put up kills and a block in two rounds, the Wolverines were serving better and swinging better, posting a .328 hitting average and a service ace to Wisconsin's .219 average and no aces.
But midway through the third set, with the Badgers down 11-15 and the match on the line, Wisconsin rallied five straight points, fueled by a number of attack errors by Michigan and two kills from Dolgner to gain a one-point lead.
Wisconsin clung to that momentum throughout the remainder of the match.
The Badgers executed UW head coach Pete Waite's recent appeal to finish out sets, besting Michigan in extra points in the third and fourth sets before putting up a respectable five-point victory margin to close out the match. Jeffers finished the night with a career-high 18 kills, and sophomore setter Nikki Klingsporn put up a career-high 13 digs.
This is absolutely what I've been looking for,"" Waite said of how the match played out. ""We would've liked to have the first set as well, but we just weren't playing that well. But to come back and win the last three was great. I think we grabbed the momentum and hung on to it.""
Wisconsin kept its momentum rolling by sweeping the visiting Buckeyes 3-0 in a Sunday matinee. Stingy passing by the Badgers allowed the offense to soar in what seemed more like a shooting range than a volleyball match.
""We were getting some seams and hitting some good shots,"" Waite said. ""Our hitters were very aggressive, and to hit .345 for the match is very good for the group.""
""We're giving [Allison] Wack and Kim [Kuzma] a lot of responsibility back there, most of the time passing two, and they're really covering the court well. I think that's showing up on our hitting stats - if we can hit .345 as a team, that means we're passing very well,"" He said.
While Wack, Kuzma and company played solid defense, senior Morgan Salow played big at the net, hitting a match and career-high .611 percentage with 13 kills in her first Big Ten start of 2008.
""During her career, she's come into the middle, she's come on the left, she's come on the right, and that really has prepared her for right now,"" Waite said. ""We're comfortable putting her anywhere, and she feels good going any position.""
The general consensus following this weekend's matchups is that this year's young squad is beginning to grow.""
""We worked really hard in practice this week, and we really felt like we could play a lot better,"" Kuzma said. ""Today it felt great to play together as a team. I think we're starting to mesh well. We switched the lineup a little bit, and we're having fun.""
