Volleyball Rallies to Defeat Penn State
October 24, 2003 | Volleyball
You know its going to be a battle whenever Wisconsin and Penn State play each other in volleyball. Friday night's match with the 23rd-ranked Badgers taking on the 15th-ranked Nittany Lions was no exception. Wisconsin (15-5, 7-2) rallied from an 11-6 deficit in Game 5 to edge Penn State 30-26, 30-28, 24-30, 20-30, 16-14.
The win moves the Badgers into a three-way tie for first place in the Big Ten Conference with Illinois and Minnesota. The Lions (18-4, 7-3) fall half a game behind.
'That's a big comeback ' to come from that far down,' said UW coach Pete Waite. 'I'm just real proud of how they did that.'
How they did it was behind the play of Jill Odenthal, Aubrey Meierotto and Marian Weidner.
With the Badgers trailing 10-5, Meierotto had a huge block solo on Penn State's Cassy Salyer that started a shift in the momentum. A kill from the Nittany Lion's Ashley Pederson, who led all hitters with 27 kills on the night, put the Lions up 11-6.
But Wisconsin came back with four unanswered points, including two off kills from Meierotto, to pull within 11-10. Another Pederson kill put the Lions up 12-10 but Meierotto and Odenthal followed with kills to tie the game at 12. The Badgers led 13-12 off a block from Weidner and Amy Bladow, but a kill by Penn State's Erin Iceman again knotted the game at 13.
Odenthal slammed down another one of her five kills in the game to allow the Badgers to serve for their first match point. Iceman had another kill resulted in a tie at 14 but kills from Odenthal and Weidner gave Wisconsin its first win over a ranked team this season.
'We talked in the beginning of this year that the chemistry of this year's team is better and hoped it would start showing up in important situations and it did tonight,' said Waite. 'We've tried some different lineups and they've been really open about just going with whatever we give them.'
The Badgers lineup change in Game 5 featured Lisa Zukowski moving to libero, after playing the first four games at outside hitter, with Weidner playing in the front row.
'It's a new look for us,' explained Waite of the lineup change. 'Marian's taking some different swings out there. It's a bigger block up there for us (which) altered some things and just let Zuke settle into passing ' just worry about passing and defense, and she made some really good plays.'
Zukowski still managed to lead Wisconsin with 18 kills. She was one of four UW players in double-figure kills. Meierotto put down 17 kills, Odenthal 16 and Sheila Shaw had 11 kills for the Badgers.
Iceman and Cara Smith added 20 and 17 kills, respectively, for the Nittany Lions, who out hit the Badgers 81-78 in kills and .282 to .243 in attack percentage.
Wisconsin managed to outblock Penn State, one of the top blocking teams in the nation, 12-11. Meierotto tied her career high with six blocks, including three solos, while Zukowski tied her career high with four blocks, including one solo. Shaw had five blocks assists in the middle.
Zukowski recorded a season-high 20 digs in the Badger backcourt while Weidner added a career-high 17 digs. Jill Maier also had double-figure digs with 15 though the Lions finished with an 86-81 advantage in digs.
Wisconsin also won despite being outserved for only the second time this season. The Badgers had five service aces compared to nine for the Lions. Morgan Shields led Wisconsin with three aces. The senior setter also ran the Badger offense, putting up 65 assists.
'It's the big turning point of the Big Ten season, ' said Shields. 'After this weekend, we're going to start the second half (of the conference season). We know it's going to be a battle for first place and I think this is going to give us more momentum.'
Wisconsin wraps up the first half of conference play on Saturday when it takes on Ohio State at 7 p.m. in the UW Field House.
