Volleyball Sweeps Illinois
November 15, 2002 | Volleyball
Led by four players in double-figure kills, the 14th-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team swept Illinois, 30-20, 30-18, 30-22. The win moves the Badgers (19-7 overall, 10-5) into a tie for second-place in the Big Ten Conference following Penn State's 3-0 loss at Ohio State. The Illini, who defeated the Badgers 3-1 in Champaign earlier this season, fall to 11-13, 5-10.
'I was really pleased with the way we came out tonight, ' said UW coach Pete Waite. 'This week was one of rest for us and working on fundamentals. I think we looked very fresh and focused, and they played very well as a team.'
The Badgers doubled up the Illini in kills finishing with a 64-32 advantage. Senior Erin Byrd led the Badgers with 20 kills while Lori Rittenhouse added 11 kills. Amy Hultgren and Jill Odenthal put down 10 kills apiece. Wisconsin hit .385 percent compared to .118 percent for Illinois. Shelly O'Bryan was the only Illini in double figures with 11.
'I thought Morgan (Shields) did a great job of dispersing the ball, getting four players in double-digit kills, especially the way she went after the middles,' said Waite. 'It was really assertive and I think it just loosened everything up along the net for us.'
The Badgers had a good night passing recording 58 digs as a team, led by 13 from Shields. Lisa Zukowski added 12 digs and Byrd 10 digs. The Illini totaled 45 digs led by 15 from Lauren Harks.
' I think just getting off to a fast start and having excellent passing and being able to move the offense around, we kind of automatically got the blockers thinking `Oh no, what's going to happen'' ', said Shields, who had 47 assists. 'So once you get them to that point, faster balls are going to be more efficient. The passing was there and their blockers were kind of on the run the whole game.'
Illinois had only four team blocks in the match compared to seven for the Badgers. Freshman Sheila Shaw led all blockers with five stuffs including one solo.
Wisconsin also had a good night at the serving line, recording three service aces, including two from Shields, while only being aced once.
The Badgers used mid-game streaks of points in the first and third games to pull away from the Illini. Byrd had three straight kills in Game 1 to put the UW up 13-9 while in Game 3 two service aces from Shields put the Badgers up 11-7.
'We've said all we can do is take care of our own business and if anyone can help us, that's great,' said Waite of moving into a tie for second in the league.
The Badgers host Purdue on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the UW Field House. The match is UW Student Night with free admission for UW students with their I.D.
'We need (fans) for this stretch run,' said Waite. 'We've still got three more home games then we want to be hosting the NCAA tournament first and second round games. We need them to keep coming out and helping us out. They've been great.'
