After two weekend games, the No. 7 Wisconsin volleyball team continued their hot streak, sweeping the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at home and the Iowa Hawkeyes on the road to open Big Ten play. The Badgers have now won eight in a row and find themselves tied with five other teams at the top of the conference.
These wins show promise for the young Wisconsin team. In both games, the Badgers were able to force errors and increase their offensive opportunities. Rutgers and Iowa both made 20 errors against Wisconsin, while the Badgers made just nine and 12 respectively.
As the Badgers move on to tougher competition, like Illinois on Thursday, they must continue to force errors as taking advantage of those opportunities is crucial to knocking off Big Ten contenders.
Rutgers
Wisconsin defeated Rutgers in three sets with scores of 25-17, 25-17 and 25-12.
The first set was the toughest battle for Wisconsin. The teams mostly traded points until toward the end, when the Badgers racked up a 5-0 scoring run to go up 22-15.
Outside hitter and freshman Madison Quest ended the first set with a big kill. It was her collegiate debut, and the young player had a remarkable first game. She had the highest hitting percentage of the game at a .636 with zero attack errors. Quest made seven kills and totalled the second most points of the night for Wisconsin, just behind standout Mimi Colyer.
“She just kind of dotted the entire box score,” Wisconsin head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “It was just a complete game for her, and that’s the type of player that she is.”
Defensively, the Badgers outpaced and outlasted Rutgers. Wisconsin was able to make important blocks and return almost everything Rutgers gave to them.
Wisconsin pulled further ahead in each set, using that momentum from the early blocking to know how to best return the ball. Middle blocker Alicia Andrew stood out for Wisconsin, recording seven blocks, the most in the game and second most of her season.
“Defensively, I thought we got stronger as the match went on,” Sheffield said. “We had a lot of success out of the middle.”
Iowa
Wisconsin’s second sweep of the weekend, a road game at Iowa, marked Sheffield’s 600th career win. The Badgers again won in only three sets, and they held the Hawkeyes to a low hitting percentage of .068. This is the fifth match this season that Wisconsin has held an opponent to an under .100 hitting percentage.
The entire game consisted of long Badger scoring runs. Set one started with a 6-0 scoring advantage after Wisconsin’s first serving opportunity, led by libero Kristen Simon. The second run put the Badgers up by 11 points, as the score turned to 14-3. The teams traded points the rest of the set, but with Wisconsin so far ahead, set one easily went to the Badgers.
In set two, the Badgers and Hawkeyes switched it up, dueling it out for points early in the set before Wisconsin got a hold on the game and made nine point and four point runs to secure the set.
Wisconsin finished with the same energy in the third and final set of the day. Two scoring runs at the beginning of set three came out of quality kills from Wisconsin and forced attack errors on Iowa’s side of the court.
Colyer reached her tenth consecutive game in which she tallied double-digit kills. She also recorded a match-high 17 kills against Iowa.
Wisconsin will face Big Ten opponent Illinois next, with the Badgers back on their home court. Illinois also sits at a 2-0 record in Big Ten play, meaning the Badgers will have to rely on their defense more to come out with the win. The game is on Oct. 2, at 7 p.m. in the Field House.
