Volleyball Sweeps Indiana
November 01, 2002 | Volleyball
The 15th-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team avenged a loss earlier this season to Indiana with a 30-21, 30-24, 30-28 sweep of the Hoosiers. Indiana edged the Badgers, 3-2, in Bloomington, Ind., on Oct. 12 but Wisconsin turned the tables with a dominating sweep at home. The Badgers improve to 16-6 overall and 7-4 in the Big Ten Conference while Indiana falls to 15-8, 5-6.
'(It was like) night and day,' said UW coach Pete Waite, comparing the loss in Bloomington to tonight's win. 'For some reason, we came out against Indiana at their place really flat. We've matured and grown a lot since that match. Sometimes you take some of those matches and get kicked in the teeth a little bit and you get hurt and you start fighting back. And that's what this team is starting to do. They're starting to claw back and fight for what they want.'
After struggling early, the Badgers outscored the Hoosiers 6-2 to win Game 1 and 6-1 to win Game 2. Game 3 was a battle with Wisconsin trailing much of the period. Freshman Sheila Shaw had three of her 11 kills late in Game 3 to bring the Badgers back from a 25-23 deficit.
'I think it was Indiana who was the one that was struggling and a little bit hesitant late in each game and that really gave us the energy to get going and push past them,' said Waite.
Indiana hit just .138 percent as a team and had only 44 kills compared to 51 for Wisconsin. Christina Archibald and Melissa Brewer led the Hoosiers with 14 and 10 kills, respectively.
The Badgers used a strong serving game to force the Hoosiers out of their offense. Indiana recorded 28 hitting errors, many unforced as Wisconsin had only had five team blocks. Wisconsin again played strong defense in the backcourt, outdigging Indiana 38-30. Morgan Shields and Lisa Zukowski each had eight digs for the Badgers.
'I'm happy to see our team put back-to-back wins together here,' said Waite, who earned his 100th win at Wisconsin tonight. 'Coming off a win at Penn State, you never know what you're going to do next.
'I think (the team) came out a little slow right at the beginning but they sure caught up fast and got things going. As all our matches have been, we've had a lot of people contribute coming off the bench and doing a nice job and that was real important for us tonight.'
Twelve UW players saw action in the match in front of 3,120 fans in the UW Field House. Ten of the athletes had kills for the Badgers behind Shaw. No other Badger player recorded double-figure kills but Jill Odenthal and Erin Byrd each had nine kills apiece while Amy Hultgren had eight kills. Hultgren hit .438 percent to lead the team to a .317 hitting percentage.
'We talked a lot this past week just about a new season, a new beginning and a chance to kind of regroup and put together what we've learned over the past half season already,' said Shields, who had 41 assists at setter. 'And I think that's the attitude everyone's taking when they step on the court.'
The Badgers look to extend their winning streak to three matches when they take on Ohio State on Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the Field House. That match will be nationally televised by ESPN2 on Sunday at 3 p.m.
