The Wisconsin volleyball team (0-4 Big Ten, 11-4 overall) will head to Ann Arbor this weekend to face No. 19 Michigan (3-1, 14-2) Friday and Michigan State (1-3, 9-6) Saturday. The Badgers are looking to grab a couple of wins in Big Ten play this weekend.
The dominance of Wisconsin's freshmen outside hitter Elise Walch and right-side hitter Julie Mikaelsen should help set them up for the wins. Walch leads the team with 3.18 kills per set and Mikaelsen put up an impressive .727 hitting percentage in their last match against Northwestern. More offensive strength comes from senior outside hitter Allison Wack. Wack isn't far behind Walch, with a contribution of 3.15 kills per set and currently leads the team with 20 aces.
Junior setter Janelle Gabrielsen has also put up some good numbers on the offensive end this season, as she ranks third in the Big Ten with 10.95 assists per set. She also contributes on the defensive end with her digs, ranking second on the team with 3.53 digs per set. Wisconsin defense is always solid with senior libero Kim Kuzma, who currently holds a double-digit dig streak of 18 matches. She had 25 digs in the last match against Northwestern.
No. 18 Michigan could not pull out a win against No. 4 Penn State last Saturday. The Wolverines are led by junior outside hitter Alex Hunt, who had 13 kills in the match. Their senior setter Lexi Zimmerman had a double-double in their last match, recording 31 assists and 13 digs. Freshman outside hitter Molly Toon, sister of Badger outside hitter Kirby Toon, also chipped in seven kills on the match. The Badgers will try to take advantage of the many service and attack errors the Wolverines committed in their last match.
Michigan State also lost their last match Saturday against Ohio State. Junior setter Natalie Emro led the team with 22 assists and seven digs. Senior outside hitter Megan Schatzle currently leads the team with 3.2 kills per set and senior Jenilee Rathje holds a .411 hitting percentage.
Wack is confident that her team will be able to bounce back and get a win or two under its belt this weekend. ""There's a lot of things that if we took care of on our side, we would have had [in last last four game]. We have confidence in our ability to come back,"" said Wack.
