After being swept by No. 16 Michigan at home on Friday night, the Badger volleyball team was looking to bounce back against No. 5 Michigan State on Sunday.
The Spartans (6-2 Big Ten, 17-3 overall) were coming off of their first conference loss of the year, on the road against No. 10 Minnesota.
The Badgers (16-4 overall, 5-3 Big Ten) shocked Michigan State 3-1. This was the highest ranked team the Badgers have beaten since they beat No. 2 Penn State on Oct. 27, 2006.
The first set started off with major score fluctuations, with six ties and two lead changes in the first half of the set. However, after that, MSU was in the zone from behind the service line, notching four aces to help them beat UW 25-20.
“In the first set, they aced us four times, and it’s not like we passed poorly, they just got us with some great serves,” head coach Kelly Sheffield said.
After more back and forth early in the second set, the Badgers went on a few big runs in the second. With the score at 16-11, UW stopped the Spartans’ kills time and time again during a grinding point, and eventually senior Ellen Chapman got the kill that brought the Fieldhouse into an uproar. The Badgers ended up taking the second set 25-19.
In the third, UW outblocked MSU 4-0 in a set where the Badgers took the lead at 7-6, and didn’t look back, winning 25-16.
Wisconsin was outblocked for the game, but they created defense in other ways. Their big defensive key was great saves and digs by senior Annemarie Hickey, who had a season high 27 digs.
“They’re a great hitting team, so we want to go in there with a defensive mentality. We just wanted to keep getting digs so that our hitters could hit. We did a great job of that today,” Hickey said.
In the fourth set, MSU didn’t let Wisconsin go on big runs, but they still couldn’t stop the Badger offense, as Wisconsin iced the match with a 25-18 win.
Executing in the serve/receive game was huge for the Badgers in the win. In their first set loss they had four serve receiving errors, and in the next three sets that they won, they had just three receiving errors combined.
In the first set, MSU had four aces to UW’s zero, but in the next three sets, the Badgers out-aced them 4-2.
“Serving was a key factor. We were serving and serving, which was taking their hitters out of the game,” junior Courtney Thomas said.
After looking sloppy against Michigan on Friday, the Badgers looked solid on offense, hitting for a higher percentage than their yearly average. They also had two players in double digits for kills, Thomas (10) and Chapman (14).
While winning after a loss is a mental boost, that’s not the team’s main takeaway.
“No matter what happens in the previous match, it’s going to feel good to execute a game plan against a talented team, and that’s a talented team we beat. Offensively they come at you as good as anybody,” Sheffield said.
With the Badgers rolling throughout the game, everything seemed to be in sync. They were converting good digs to good sets, and sets to powerful kills. The team had a confidence on the court that outweighed the Spartans’ talent.
“We were playing determined. Your opponent will make some adjustments, so you have to do a little of that as well, but keep doing what you’re doing is basically what I said in the breaks,” Sheffield said.
This week, the Badgers continue their home-stand against No. 10 Minnesota (6-2, 18-3) on Wednesday. They have their final home game of this stretch on Sunday against Illinois (3-4, 7-10).
