Badgers Take Down Buckeyes in Three
November 21, 2003 | Volleyball
The University of Wisconsin volleyball team broke a three-match losing streak with a 30-25, 30-25, 30-27 win at Ohio State. The Badgers improve to 19-9 overall and 11-6 in the Big Ten Conference. Ohio State falls to 10-16, 4-14.
'It feels great,' Head Coach Pete Waite said. 'It was just a great effort by our team to raise their energy level and get on the road and play a really good match against one of the best hitters in the country, and to keep her as low as we did is a testament to how hard they're working on defense and the blocking teams we're doing. It's a great team win.'
Wisconsin had three players in double-figure kills led by Sheila Shaw with 14. Jill Odenthal added 13 kills and hit an impressive .632 percent. Aubrey Meierotto added 11 kills as the Badgers outhit the Buckeyes 53-47. Wisconsin also hit .342 percent as a team compared to .281 percent for Ohio State.
'For Odie coming off a sprained ankle from last week, to have a hitting percentage like that and 13 kills is amazing,' Coach Waite said. 'She was at times unstoppable and we needed that, we needed her in there. We did a good job in the middle with Shaw. They have a smaller middle blocker so we took advantage of their weaknesses.'
The Badgers held the 2002 Big Ten Player of the Year Stacey Gordon to just 11 killls, well below her season average of 6.59 per game. Heather Whalen led the Buckeyes with 13 kills while Amanda Miller added 12 kills.
Wisconsin had a strong serving game recording seven aces, including three from Meierotto. The Badgers were only aced four times.
Both team had five blocks but Wisconsin finished with a 57-45 advantage in digs. Jill Maier led all players with 17 digs while Lisa Zukowski added 10 digs.
Morgan Shields ran the UW offense putting up 45 assists.
The Badgers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in Game 1 and never looked back. Wisconsin used four service aces, two each from Shaw and Meierotto, to up its lead to eight (18-10). The Buckeyes cut it to four (27-23) off two UW errors but two kills from Meierotto put the game away.
Ohio State took a 9-6 lead in the second period before Wisconsin rallied to tie the game at nine off a Buckeye hitting error. OSU broke a 12-12 tie with three straight points and upped its lead to five (20-15). Behind the front-row play of Shields, Bladow and Meierotto, the Badgers tied the game at 22. Wisconsin broke a 24-24 tie on a kill from Odenthal and would go to take a 2-0 game lead into the locker room.
Shaw had eight kills in the third period to lead the Badgers to the sweep. Wisconsin led 23-18 but Ohio State came back to tie the game at 26. A Buckeye service ace gave the Badgers the lead for good before a Shaw kill followed by a block by Shaw and Shields put the match away.
'It was a combination of passing to give Moe that option and Moe going to Shaw at the right time,' Coach Waite added. 'That was critical. It helped us stay ahead of them in the last game and eight kills in one game is amazing.'
The Badgers wrap up their Big Ten road season at Penn State on Saturday night. Match time is 7 p.m. EST in Rec Hall.
'It would be a fantastic ending to our weekend,' Coach Waite said of a possible victory over PSU Saturday. 'We did it last year, so the kids know that they can do it again. We're coming off a good win, so they 'll be in a good mood and we'll go for the win.'
