Badger Volleyball Drops to Illinois in Straight Sets
November 15, 2003 | Volleyball
For the first time since 1996, the Wisconsin volleyball team dropped two Big Ten Conference matches in a row. No. 25 Illinois swept the 23rd-ranked Badgers 30-15, 30-26, 34-32. Wisconsin (18-9, 10-6) has now lost three consecutive matches for the first time since 1995 and remains tied for fourth in the conference. Illinois (21-5, 13-4) won its 11th straight at home this season and remains tied for second in the league.
'They ran in to an Illinois team that is playing better than I've seen in two or three years,' Head Coach Pete Waite said. 'It was very big, 6-3, 6-5. I think we battled ourselves back in game two and in game three we had a chance to win at 29-26 and we couldn't quiet hold them off. '
The Badgers struggled on offensive, hitting just .112 percent for the match. Only one UW player had double-figure kills with Sheila Shaw putting down 10. Jill Odenthal added nine kills and Marian Weidner and Amy Bladow, each put down eight kills.
The Illini were led by Rachel Van Meter with 16 kills and only finished with a slight 50-49 advantage in kills. Illinois hit .248 percent as a team but shown on defense, where it outdug Wisconsin 68-57. The Illinois had four players in double-figure digs while the Badgers only had two'Lisa Zukowski and Jill Maier with 12 apiece.
'We had some kids come off and do a nice job,' Coach Waite added. 'Katie Lorenzen came in, Maria Carlini, Kirin Swanson came in and did a nice job. Sometimes you're searching for that right chemistry and they did a nice job getting back in those games. They gave us a good shot at it. But this Illinois team is just a team right now that is playing great and we'll have to get back into the gym and get back on track for next week.'
The UW had another strong blocking night, recording 10 team blocks. Bladow led the UW with four blocks. Illinois had 12 team blocks, led by 10 assists from Shelly O'Bryan.
The Badgers never challenged in Game 1 as two early Illini blocks keyed an 8-2 lead for the home team. Wisconsin cut the lead to two (10-8) on a Shaw service ace but Illinois added three more blocks to take its biggest lead of the game at 21-9. A total of six Illini blocks in the game allowed the Badgers to hit just .047 percent for the game compared to .351 for Illinois.
Wisconsin came back in Game 2, leading by five (13-8) behind three kills from Amy Bladow. Illinois rallied to tie the game at 20 behind the play of Rachel Van Meter, who had five kills in the second period. The score was tied three more times including at 24-24 before Van Meter pounded down two consecutive kills to put the Illini up for good. The Badgers would cut the lead to two (28-26) but a kill from Shelly O 'Bryan and a bad set by the UW put Illinois up two games to none.
Wisconsin altered its lineup in Game 3 with Marian Weidner starting for Zukowski and Maria Carlini starting for Jill Odenthal. The changed lineup put the Badgers up 12-7 but the Illini again came from behind to tie the score at 17. The game remained tight though 24-24 until two consecutive Badger blocks put Wisconsin up 27-24. The UW served for game point twice (29-27 and 29-28), but two Badger hitting errors allowed the Illini to tie the game again. Wisconsin held off two Illinois match points but two UW errors gave the Illini the sweep.
'We have to bring a higher energy on the road,' Coach Waite said. 'We took care of Illinois at our place, and played them great there. But we have to come out and play at a higher level from the get-go in any match on the road.'
The Badgers travel to Ohio State and Penn State next weekend before wrapping up the Big Ten season at home on Nov. 28 and 29 against Indiana and Purdue.
