Badgers Get Even With Wildcats
November 20, 2002 | Volleyball
The No. 14 Wisconsin Badgers (21-7 overall, 12-5 Big Ten) evened the score with the Northwestern Wildcats (16-13, 9-8) Wednesday night in five tough games, 28-30, 25-30, 30-27, 30-25, 15-10. The win is payback for the Badgers' loss at Northwestern nearly a month ago.
'We've wanted this game for a long time. It was almost like some of the stress of the loss (earlier in the season) was the way we looked tonight at the beginning,' said UW head coach Pete Waite. 'Luckily we came back, got over the hump, and got the win. It just shows when we play our game we 're very tough, we just have to make sure we're loose and just staying super aggressive.'
Offensively, the Badgers hitting just needed time to heat up. The hitting percentages grew every game (.154, .225, .240, .368, .421). Four UW players reached double-digits led by senior Erin Byrd with 29 kills, tying her career-high. Sheila Shaw, Aubrey Meierotto and Jill Odenthal added 14, 14 and 11 kills respectively. Wisconsin 's attacking game was run by Big Ten Conference Player of the Week, Morgan Shields with 68 assists on the night.
On the defense, three players scored double-figures digs. Libero Lisa Zukowski racked up 21 digs, tying her career-high. Byrd picked up 18 and Shields cleaned up 11 digs. However, the blocking game was dominated by the Wildcats. Northwestern knocked down 13 blocks to the Badgers' eight.
The Wildcats really made their presence known in their serving game. The team hit the floor with eight service aces, led by Cassie McKnight with five. The Badgers did not earn any aces in the entire match.
'They're a very hard team because they bring four or five different types of serves,' said Waite.
After struggling with their passing game in the first two games, Wisconsin was able to turn around the match in Game 3 rallying to tie the game three times (18-18, 19-19, 20-20) before pulling ahead and not allowing Northwestern to come closer than two (22-20, 24-22, 29-27) for the rest of the game.
The Badgers kept the Wildcats at bay in Game 4 as well with a kill from Lauren Ford to seal the deal.
In Game 5, the Badgers came out swinging scoring their first three points off two kills and a block. Wisconsin led the whole game eventually grabbing three of their last four points from Odenthal kills.
Wisconsin will wrap up its home season Friday against Penn State, which is designated Senior Night to honor the team's three graduating players. The match will serve off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast Sunday at 2 p.m. on FoxSports North.
