Volleyball Takes Down Michigan, 3-0
November 19, 2004 | Volleyball
The Wisconsin volleyball team snapped a three-match losing streak with a sweep (30-24, 31-29, 30-25) over Michigan Friday night in front of a season-high crowed of 5,778. With the win, the Badgers are in sole possession of fourth place in the Big Ten Conference at 11-6 and 17-8 overall. The Wolverines fall to 8-9 and 18-10.
'I'm really happy with the way we played,' Wisconsin head coach Pete Waite said. 'Michigan is a very good team, and we knew they had just taken Minnesota to five games a week ago. So, coming off a three-match losing streak, this is very good for our program.'
As a team, Wisconsin out-killed Michigan 62-51 with a .310 hitting percentage, compared to the Wolverines' .254 mark. The Badgers were led by Maria Carlini, Jill Odenthal and Sheila Shaw, who each tallied 13 slams. Carlini led all players, hitting for a career-high .550 clip.
'I love playing Michigan,' Carlini said. 'I love beating Michigan. Back home, Michigan was just huge, so any time that I have to play them I get fired up, and I just think that we played really well today. I 'm happy. The team's happy.'
Michigan out-blocked Wisconsin 8.5-5 with three Wolverines recording four block assists each. Freshman middle blocker Taylor Reineke tallied three block assists and one block solo for the Badgers.
'Normally, we're a team who out-blocks opponents, ' Waite said. 'But tonight, Michigan did a nice job of avoiding our block and we did a good job of digging around the block, and that's the important part we've been missing recently.'
The Badgers out-dug their opponents 56-49, led by freshman libero Jocelyn Wack's 15 defensive saves.
Wisconsin kept Michigan off-balance with strong serving, recording four aces and just four errors. Freshman setter Jackie Simpson had a career-high two aces on the night and also put up a match-high 46 assists.
'I thought Jackie was setting a nice match, and the hitters were able to get in a rhythm,' Waite said. 'Our passers did a nice job tonight keeping the ball in play. Our serving and passing game is something we've also been concerned about recently, and this was a very good night for us with four service aces and only four service errors.'
After allowing Michigan to take the first point in game one, Wisconsin jumped out to a 7-2 advantage and maintained at least a three-point lead for the remainder of the frame. The Badgers hit .302 as a team in the period as Carlini put down five kills.
Game two featured 23 tie scores as Wisconsin fought to go up 2-0 in the match. The Badgers trailed late in the game, but Shaw put down a kill to set the score at 23-23, and Wisconsin never fell behind in the remainder of the period. The Badgers failed to convert on their first game point at 29-28, but a kill from Odenthal and a block solo by Carlini gave Wisconsin the game.
The Badgers jumped on the Wolverines in game three, taking an early 7-2 lead and never trailing. Wisconsin had three different 4-0 runs, including one starting at 26-25 to close out the match. A kill by Reineke followed by a Michigan attack error and back-to-back kills from Marian Weidner and Simpson sealed the Badger victory.
'The last few matches we were not the ones getting the big points and the big rallies,' Waite said. 'And, we've talked about that. We worked hard on our defense all week and our movement on defense and I think it paid off. It really was a focus of the team and they showed they cared a lot more about getting those exciting rallies.'
Wisconsin is next in action Saturday night as it hosts Michigan State at 7:30 p.m. The two Badger seniors, Jill Odenthal and Marian Weidner, will be playing their final regular-season game in the UW Field House and will be honored before the match.
