Saturday’s game against Northwestern proved to be another complete team effort by the Badgers, who once again showed that the final score is not always indicative of how close a game is.
Last season, the Illinois Fighting Illini started 4-1 and looked poised to make a bowl appearance.
This season, Wisconsin’s defense has been in a constant state of flux. With players getting injured and coming back from injury, and some going from hot to cold in a heartbeat, finding consistency has been difficult. Senior safety Leo Musso, however, has been about as consistent as it gets.
With a tough five-set victory over Purdue that extended the UW volleyball team’s win streak to five straight matches, No. 3 Wisconsin (12-2 Big Ten, 20-3 overall) appears to be hitting its stride just as the end of the regular season approaches. This weekend, the Badgers will hit the road and venture across the border to take on Illinois (7-7, 14-11) Friday night and then head to Evanston to face Northwestern (1-13, 8-18) Saturday night. Just over three weeks ago, Illinois was ranked inside the top 25 and sported a 7-2 conference record.
Back-to-back Final Four appearances and a trip to the title game on the shoulders of Frank Kaminsky placed the Badgers firmly in the national spotlight two years ago.
Wisconsin Badgers forward Nigel Hayes has not been shy in expressing his opinions on the current social climate in the U.S., expressing ad nauseum his frustrations with how Black Americans are currently being treated. In UW’s first two exhibition games, Hayes and his teammate Jordan Hill have delivered their own on-court protest, standing out-of-line from their teammates as the National Anthem was performed. “You can’t take a knee on the court because my knee would hurt,” Hayes said.
To say last year’s NCAA selection show left a foul taste in Kylie Schwarz’s mouth would be an understatement.
At long last, the drought is over. The trap game to end all trap games was finally conquered Saturday by the Wisconsin Badgers, as they marched into the Mystical Realm of Evanston and emerged victorious for the first time since 1999. It was a huge win for Wisconsin that marked the end of a brutal portion of its schedule.
It wasn’t pretty, nor was it easy, but Wisconsin left the Kohl Center floor with a ‘W’ after taking down Winona State 78-71 in Sunday’s exhibition match. The Badgers left the first quarter up 22-11 and extended that lead in the second to make it 41-19.
When Amber MacDonald made her Wisconsin debut in the fall of 2015, it not only signified the start of her college volleyball career, but also put an end to the whirlwind journey which came before it. Born and raised in Alpharetta, Ga., the Badgers’ defensive specialist/libero first expressed interest in UW during her sophomore year of high school, when she took a trip to watch the Badgers in the 2013 Final Four in Seattle.
Senior goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens set a new NCAA record with her 44th career shutout and senior forward Sarah Nurse notched her 100th career point as No. 1 Wisconsin (9-0-1 WCHA, 11-0-1 overall) completed a weekend sweep of Bemidji State (2-7-1, 4-7-1) with a 6-0 victory at LaBahn Arena Sunday. Entering the game, attention was focused on Desbiens, who had tied the NCAA record in Saturday’s game and had her first opportunity to take the record outright.
The Big Ten tournament found its way back to Madison Sunday afternoon, as the No. 3 Badgers (4-2-2 Big Ten, 11-3-3 overall) played host to the No. 6 Buckeyes (3-4-1, 5-13-1) at the McClimon Complex.
After gaining a commanding two set lead, No. 3 Wisconsin (12-2 Big Ten, 20-3 overall) was driven to the brink of defeat Saturday night, needing late-match heroics in a decisive fifth set to put away the Purdue Boilermakers (5-9, 15-10) by a score of 25-22, 26-24, 22-25, 16-25, 15-10.
The game of hockey is naturally fast. The best players and the best teams play fast, but it is more than just speed that makes a team succeed.
Senior goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens recorded her 43rd career shutout to tie the NCAA career shutout record, as top-ranked Wisconsin (8-0-1 WCHA, 10-0-1, overall) blanked Bemidji State (2-6-1, 4-6-1) 5-0, Saturday afternoon at LaBahn Arena. “It’s kind of impressive, it’s not something I would have thought about when I got here three or four years ago,” Desbiens said of the milestone.
Last year, the Wildcats pulled off a huge win at Camp Randall Stadium as the Badgers fell short in the redzone at the end of the game.
The No.17/No.13 Wisconsin Badgers (0-4 men, 1-3 women) were hoping to come into Gabrielsen Natatorium Friday and make history, but instead it was the No.7/No.8 Georgia Bulldogs (4-0, 4-0) who came out of the pool victorious after holding Wisconsin to only nine event victories in the two-day dual. It is well-known in the world of collegiate swimming and diving that leaving Gabrielsen victorious as a visitor is near to impossible.
It was not a pretty win, but the Wisconsin Badgers (4-2 Big Ten, 7-2 Overall) held off the Northwestern Wildcats (3-3, 4-5) for a 21-7 victory in Evanston, Ill. Wisconsin’s offense struggled to finish drives throughout the game, frequently ending up in Northwestern territory without touchdowns to show for it.
Poor goaltending, defensive lapses and missed opportunities cost the Badgers (4-3-0) in a 5-2 loss to Northern Michigan (2-5-1) Friday night at the Kohl Center. The Wildcats got off to a quick start, scoring 33 seconds in and quieting the crowd of 7,795.
In this week's episode of the Cardinal Zone Podcast, sports editor Thomas Valtin-Erwin takes over as host and talks to men's soccer beat writer Jake Nisse about the soccer team's impending Big Ten tourney and their shot at the NCAA Tourney.
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