Badger Volleyball Falls to Nittany Lions in Five
October 27, 2001 | Volleyball
The Badgers still can't win at Penn State. Despite entering the match undefeated in the Big Ten Conference and ranked fifth in the nation, the Wisconsin volleyball team lost to 13th-ranked Penn State 20-30, 28-30, 30-23, 30-26, 15-9. The Badgers are 0-12 in State College.
'We started out pretty well in Game 3 [after winning the first two games],' Wisconsin Head Coach Pete Waite said. 'But I think our passing broke down and a couple people stopped playing with the same confidence and aggressiveness that got them to that point, and Penn State started catching fire. '
After winning the first two games, Wisconsin's passing fell apart and allowed Penn State to get some momentum going. The Badgers hit zero percent in Games 3 and 5, but still managed to outhit the Lions .140 - .135 percent for the match.
Wisconsin was led by Sherisa Livingston with 21 kills while Jill Odenthal put down 14 kills. Erin Byrd added 10 kills but hit a negative .064 percent. Penn State was led by Mishka Levy and Katie Schumacher with 18 and 15 kills respectively.
The Badgers outperformed the Lions in almost every category-outblocking them 15-14; outdigging them 86-74; and out-acing them 5-4. Amy Hultgren led all blockers with 10 stuffs while Lori Rittenhouse added seven.
Four UW players recorded double-figure digs led by 21 from Byrd. Korie Gardner and Lizzy Fitzgerald each had 15 digs and Rittenhouse had 11.
Wisconsin jumped out to a 4-0 lead in Game 1 and led 16-11 off a kill from Livingston. Penn State battled back to tie the game at 19, but behind the serve of Marian Weidner, the Badgers outscored the Lions 7-0 to take a 26-19 lead. Two kills by Rittenhouse and an ace by Sara Urbanek gave the Badgers the win.
Game 2 was tied at nine before a pair of Badger blocks keyed a 6-2 run to put Wisconsin up 15-11. The Lions cut it to one, 16-15, off a service ace, but the Badgers regained their four-point lead at 21-17. Wisconsin controlled most of the game and served for game point at 29-25, but three UW hitting errors allowed PSU to cut it to 29-28. A Livingston kill put the Badgers up two games to none.
Wisconsin hit .000 percent in Game 3 as Badger hitting errors allowed the Lions to break a 10-10 tie and take an 18-12 lead. The UW had four unforced hitting errors during that stretch. PSU served for game point at 29-20 but the Badgers held it off for three points before a kill by Schumacher got the Lions back in the match.
Wisconsin trailed 17-21 in Game 4 off a Penn State service ace but rallied to tie the score at 22 behind two blocks from Rittenhouse and Hultgren. The Lions went up 27-22 and the Badgers could get no closer than three (28-25) off a Livingston kill as PSU tied the match at two games apiece.
The Lions carried their momentum over to Game 5, jumping out to a 4-0 lead off three UW errors. They would get no closer than two at 8-6 as PSU defeated Wisconsin for the 12th straight time in State College.
'We had it as our goal to get a win and I think we had a great opportunity to do it being up 2-0,' Waite said. 'We could have done it in three, but this is one of those nights where we're playing our first full match without a starter like [Lisa] Zukowski. She does a lot for the team. Sometimes it was just mental strength and feistiness we were missing and she brings that, so we're going to have to learn to do without her.'
Wisconsin returns home next weekend to face Illinois and Indiana.
