Badger Volleyball Takes Down Iowa Hawkeyes
November 08, 2002 | Volleyball
The 13th-ranked Wisconsin volleyball continued its winning streak with a 30-16, 30-19, 21-30, 30-15 win over Iowa. The Badgers (18-6 overall, 9-4 Big Ten) have their last four matches and remained tied for second place in the Big Ten Conference.
'I was really happy with the way we came out in the (first) two games,' said UW head coach Pete Waite. 'We've talked about coming down here to Iowa and playing on the road and keeping a strong focus for three straight games and trying to get done in three.'
Wisconsin almost doubled up Iowa (8-15, 2-11) in nearly every statistical category. The Badgers had three players in double-figure kills led by Erin Byrd with 21. Jill Odenthal and Lori Rittenhouse added 13 and 11 kills, respectively. Wisconsin totaled 63 kills and hit .259 percent compared to 36 kills and .034 percent for Iowa.
Led by Lauren Ford tying her career high with six blocks, all in Game 4, the Badgers out-blocked the Hawkeyes 12.5 to 6.0. Rittenhouse and Hultgren each had five blocks for the Badgers.
'(Lauren Ford) gave it some great energy in the fourth game, came off the bench and had some blocks and kills that really made it a lot easier separate ourselves from Iowa and finish the match up.'
Four players in double-figure digs gave Wisconsin a 71-61 advantage in digs. Morgan Shields led the team with 16 digs while Byrd and Lisa Zukowski had 14 apiece. Korie Gardner had 10 digs. Shields also had 51 assists running the UW offense.
The Badgers had a poor night on the serving line recording only one service ace, a season low, and 17 service errors.
Led by eight kills from Byrd and five digs from Jill Maier, the Badgers easily won Game 1. Wisconsin jumped out to a 5-0 lead, scoring three points off Iowa errors, and never looked back. The Badgers hit .394 percent in the game and held the Hawkeyes to .000 percent.
Game 2 was more of a battle with Wisconsin leading 11-10. The blocking duo of Lori Rittenhouse and Amy Hultgren put the Badgers up 14-10 with two straight stuffs. Wisconsin had another impressive offense and defensive performance hitting .340 percent and recording 25 digs.
Iowa used five team blocks in Game 3 to stop the Badger sweep. Wisconsin had 11 hitting errors, connecting of only .089 percent of attacks, and five service errors. The Hawkeyes led early, 6-2 and 12-7, and the Badgers couldn't cut the lead, sending the match to four games.
'For some reason we let up just enough for Iowa to wake up and we started struggling with some things,' said Waite. 'It was good to see we started coming on late in the third and then in the fourth we played really well again.'
The Badgers got back on track in Game 4 as Lauren Ford dominated at the net. The freshman middle blocker had six blocks and four kills in the period. Ford keyed a 5-0 run to put the UW up 10-8 and 20-13. In the Badgers last eight points, Ford had four blocks including a solo and two kills.
'We're going to be ready for Minnesota because that 's a match we have no trouble being motivated for, for a lot of reasons,' said Waite. '(Minnesota is) going to be an awesome match. I think our team plays very well against the top teams in the conference. They'll be focused, I think they'll be composed and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. '
Wisconsin takes on league-leader Minnesota on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis. The match will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Net North, Charter Cable channel 26 in Madison.
