The Wisconsin volleyball team traveled to play Washington and Oregon last weekend, adding two four-set wins to their Big Ten record.
While the Badgers have been playing strong, these games served as a dress rehearsal before their much bigger challenge: No. 1s Nebraska on Halloween.
Washington
Wisconsin defeated Washington in four sets (25-19, 19-25, 25-16, 25-20) on Oct. 24. The Badgers were able to hold the Huskies to their lowest hitting percentage of the season, while Wisconsin recorded a .246 hitting percentage.
Outside hitters Mimi Colyer and Grace Egan returned as a hitting duo, racking up 33 kills total. Egan was out due to injury until last week’s game against USC.
In this game, the Badgers focused on creating runs and building off momentum. Wisconsin found opportunities for runs in the first and third sets, which allowed them to gain advantage and win the game.
The first set was a simple win for Wisconsin. They came out with two three-point and two four-point runs to go ahead 15-5.
The Huskies answered in the second set, ultimately winning with a couple runs toward the end. Wisconsin managed to keep up with them until that point.
Egan had four strong kills in the third set, helping the Badgers win the set. She ended the game with a hitting percentage of .538, her highest of the season.
Colyer served six times during a seven-point run for the Badgers and created two service aces in this set.
Wisconsin came out with a big lead in the set four. At one point, the Badgers were ahead 13-7. Both sides battled back-and-forth for the rest of the set, but the Badgers won the set and ended the game.
“I thought we were very passive, and Mimi was carrying us,” head coach Kelly Sheffield said in the postgame press conference. “We weren’t able to get the ball to our middles, and I thought our young players learned a lesson about how to come here and use your voice and strong moves.”
The Badgers performance after set two drastically improved.
“I thought we came out of that very, very different,” Sheffield said. “We were communicating with strength. We were defending.”
Oregon
Wisconsin recorded their top hitting percentage of the weekend against Oregon, scoring a .290.
Similar to many of their other four-set games this season, the Badgers lost the first set against the Ducks before coming back to win three straight sets.
Colyer had another almost-perfect serving run that put the Badgers ahead 13-4 early in the first set. In this game, Colyer recorded one service ace.
The Ducks responded to Wisconsin’s run, and the first set went into extra points territory. Oregon ended up taking set one 28-26.
Wisconsin won set two by sheer grit. For most of the set, they trailed Oregon, but they managed to come back from a 20-17 deficit to win eight of the final 12 points for the win.
“It was a battle,” Sheffield said. “Proud of our kids and how they stuck with it and just battled.”
Wisconsin and Oregon stuck close together through the third set. Three serves from defensive specialist Maile Chan allowed Badgers Carter Booth and Una Vajagic to record three consecutive kills. The Badgers pulled ahead to win three points.
The Ducks had the advantage for most of the fourth set. Down 24-21, the Badgers came back to win the second extended set of the night 27-25, ending the competition.
“Every night in the Big Ten is going to a battle, we saw such a close game. That could have been anyone's game and I think we're going to see that throughout the rest of Big Ten play,” Colyer said.
Coming up next, the Badgers play top-ranked Nebraska at 8 p.m. on Halloween at the Fieldhouse, before a tough stretch against Ohio State, Minnesota and Indiana..
“It's such a good conference,” Colyer said. “It's the best conference for volleyball.”
