Badgers Halt Hoosiers
November 28, 2003 | Volleyball
The Wisconsin volleyball team opened Friday night with two closely contested games vs. Indiana, before raising its level of play to defeat the Hoosiers, 30-22, 28-30, 30-14, 30-26 at the UW Field House in front of 4,436 fans. With the win, the Badgers (20-10, 12-7 Big Ten) move into sole possession of fourth place in the Big Ten.
Game 1 saw eight ties before the Badgers took the lead for good at 11-10. Aubrey Meierotto, who had a match-high 21 kills, had a kill to finish off a 6-1 run, putting Wisconsin up 19-13. Indiana used a 3-1 stretch to pull with three at 20-17 and held on at 23-20, but the Badgers closed out the game with a 7-2 scoring streak. UW hit .432 in Game 1, while Indiana only managed .194.
Game 2 stayed close throughout and produced 18 ties. Not until IU went on a 3-0 run late in the game did either team lead by more than two points. Indiana took a three-point lead at 24-21, but UW battled back behind Meirerotto. The sophomore outside hitter, who notched nine kills in game two, blasted back-to-back shots to knot the game at 27. At 28-27, the Badgers took their first lead since 20-19, but couldn't hold on and fell 28-30.
'We were a little flat in the second game and Indiana played well,' UW head coach Pete Waite said. 'We just couldn't quite crank it up to the level and the speed that we wanted to at that point.'
Coming out of the locker room, the Badgers found the speed and level they wanted as they cruised to victory in Game 3. UW had seen enough ties during the first two contests and at 2-2, Bucky responded with a 4-0 run and continued with a 7-4 spurt to take a 13-6 lead. Wisconsin pushed the lead to 23-11 as it couldn't be stopped and finished with a 30-14 win. Lisa Zukowski and Sheila Shaw led the Badgers with five kills apiece in Game 3 as UW hit .400 to IU's .049.
'That really set the tone for the rest of the match, ' Waite said. 'The pace we played made it hard for Indiana to keep up. '
In Game 4, Wisconsin withstood an IU 5-0 run early on (10-12) and responded with a 6-1 rally to take a 16-13 lead. Indiana tied the game at 18 and pulled within two at 28-26, but the Badgers clamped down and Zukowski closed out the match with a kill.
On the match, UW hit .316 percent over IU's .161. The Badgers tied their season high with 84 digs and 79 kills to the Hoosiers 54 digs and 49 kills. Bucky also totaled 10 team blocks, while Indiana had four. Six different Badgers registered double-digit digs with seniors Jill Maier and Morgan Shields leading the way with 16 digs apiece.
'I was really happy with the defense we played ' we outhit them by a high percentage,' Waite said. 'That's the level of ball we want to be playing.'
With 66 assists versus the Hoosiers, Shields broke her own school record (1,062) with 1,066 assists in Big Ten matches. Shields also moved past Lizzy Fitzgerald into third on UW's career assists list with 3,941.
The Badgers close out the regular season Saturday night against Purdue. The 7 p.m. match will be the last in the Field House this season. The Kohl Center will be the Badgers' venue if Wisconsin plays host to NCAA tournament games. The 64-team bracket for the championship will be announced on Sunday at 7 p.m. on ESPNews.
