Badgers Advance to NCAA Second Round
December 05, 2003 | Volleyball
The Wisconsin volleyball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament with a 30-24, 25-30, 32-30, 30-26 win over 22nd-ranked Arizona. The Badgers (22-10) advance to the second round where they will face the winner of the 16th-seeded Texas A&M vs. Nicholls State match on Saturday at 7 p.m.
'I'm really happy with that win,' said UW coach Pete Waite. 'I know Arizona has some awesome players and they're very physical. We also knew they were a little bit young and might be erratic at times.
'At times, I was frustrated with our own inconsistency at times which made for some very close games but I was still pleased with the way we held on and finished it off in four.'
The two teams were evenly matched with both teams having four players record double-figure kills. Wisconsin was led by Sheila Shaw with 18 kills while Aubrey Meierotto had 17 kills. Lisa Zukowski and Jill Odenthal added 12 and 11 kills, respectively.
The Wildcats were led by All-American Kim Glass, who had a match-high 20 kills. Jolene Killough added 16 kills and Jennifer Abernathy 11 kills. Bre Ladd completed the quartet with 10 kills.
While Wisconsin had only more kill than Arizona in the match (66-65), the biggest difference was in hitting percentage where the Badgers hit .295 percent compared to .199 percent for the Wildcats.
'I was happy with the way our team really scrapped and battled out there tonight,' added Waite. 'I was really happy with Jill Maier's defense. Overall, between Maier and (Lisa) Zukowski, they really weren 't letting much hit the ground and I'm sure that was very frustrating for Glass especially. That's always exciting for your own team. When you can dig a player like that, it gets them even more excited.'
Maier led all back-row players with 20 digs and Zukowski added 18 digs for the Badgers as Wisconsin had 74 team digs compared to 72 for the Wildcats.
Both teams had seven blocks and Arizona outserved Wisconsin 8-5 in aces.
The Badgers controlled Game 1 with an impressive .415 hitting percentage. Shaw led the way with seven kills on 10 attempts and no errors for a .700 hitting percentage. Wisconsin led by six (13-7) off an Arizona hitting error but the Wildcats would cut the lead to 13-12. The game seesawed back and forth with Wisconsin leading by five (21-16) and Arizona rallying to cut it to two (23-21). The Badgers upped their lead to six (28-22) and won the game on their second game point off another Shaw kill.
The left-side hitting combination of Glass and Abernathy combined for 14 of Arizona's 18 kills in Game 2 to key the rally by the Wildcats. Wisconsin led early in the game (11-6) but the Wildcats switched setters with Kelly Griffin-Halfaker coming off the bench to replace Stephanie Butkas. Led by four service aces from Griffin-Halfaker, the Wildcats went on a 6-0 streak to take a 14-11 lead. The Badgers slowly came back to tie the game at 20 but several unforced hitting errors cost Wisconsin down the stretch.
The Badgers served for game point seven times in Game 3 before a Shaw service ace put Wisconsin up two games to one. The Badgers led 29-24 off a kill from Odenthal before the Wildcats scored five straight points, including two off blocks, to tie the game at 29-29. A kill from Shaw put Wisconsin up 30-29 but Arizona came back with a kill from Jolene Killough to tie it again. A Wildcat ball-handling error followed by the Shaw ace gave Wisconsin a 32-30 win.
'We took all that energy and just went with it,' said Shaw about Wisconsin's third-game win. 'It's the end of the year and you have to play like every game it your last because it could be.'
Wisconsin broke an 8-8 tie with a kill from Amy Bladow. The Badgers led by as much as six (24-18) but the Wildcats, behind the play of Glass, pulled to within one at 24-23. An Arizona service error followed by a kill from Meierotto put Wisconsin back up by three which proved to be enough for the win.
'We don't know much about Nicholls State. We 've seen A&M the last couple of years. We know they're very, very strong and have a great tradition,' said Waite of his potential second-round opponents. 'To tell you the truth, we really focused a lot on this first match to make sure we got past it.'
