UW Falls to Purdue
November 05, 2005 | Volleyball
The 10th-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team dropped its first home match against Purdue since 1992 in a 23-30, 30-26, 30-28, 30-23 defeat Saturday night at the UW Field House. In an intense defensive match, both teams had low hitting percentages with the Badgers hitting .160 compared to Purdue's .190.
'We know (defense) is Purdue's forte,' said head coach Pete Waite. 'They are a great defensive team. That's the thing they've become most solid at.'
Both Wisconsin (18-5, 10-4 Big Ten) and 15th-ranked Purdue (21-4, 10-4) piled up 91 digs with sophomore libero Jocelyn Wack leading the Badgers with 21 digs. Wack extended her double-figure match streak to 54 and is now fourth on the all-time NCAA list behind UCLA's Chrisse Zartman's 56-match streak set in 2004.
Three other Badgers had double-figures in digs for the match. Maria Carlini registered 14 digs with Amanda Berkley and Megan Mills contributing 12 and 10 digs, respectively.
Behind the defensive play of Kelli Miller, who had a match-high 26 digs, and Anne Mastandrea, who had 23 digs for the Boilermakers, the Badgers struggled to mount a consistent offensive threat.
'It was really frustrating,' said Taylor Reineke. 'When you hit as hard as you can, you think it's a really good shot and they just pick it up. You have to keep going at them and hopefully they'll break down at some point.'
In blocks, the Badgers did hold a 16-14 advantage over the Boilermakers with Reineke tying for match-high honors with eight. Despite Wisconsin 's statistical advantage, Purdue's blocking unit of 6-4 Danita Merlau and 6-3 Stephanie Lynch disrupted the Wisconsin attack the entire match.
'They've increased the size of their block this year with getting Merlau and Lynch in the front row,' said Waite. 'It really makes it tough to attack them at the net and then they're picking up a lot of balls in the back row. They made a lot of really solid plays.'
'Going into this match we knew it would be tough because they have physical, strong blockers,' said Reineke. 'We know their defense is really good; they're really scrappy and they pick up a lot of things. '
Purdue earned a 74-62 advantage in kills over the Badgers with three players having double-figures. Merlau led the Boilermakers with a match-high 17 kills while Lynch and Samantha Mader each had 16.
'They were just hitting balls all around the court, ' said Wack. 'We tried to shade our defense to the right spots but sometimes they'd just make a good shot.'
Four Badgers managed double-figure kills, led by opposite hitter Audra Jeffers who had 15 kills off a .270 hitting percentage along with five blocks. Aubrey Meierotto had 13 kills while Reineke and Sheila Shaw totaled 12 and 10 kills, respectively.
'It was pretty difficult,' said Meierotto. 'Their defense was really hard to hit around. They made some amazing plays. They were just a really good defensive team.'
Starter Katie Lorenzen and Jackie Simpson shared time at setter running the Wisconsin attack. Simpson led the Badgers with 38 assists while Lorenzen contributed 14.
Wisconsin fell behind early in all four games. But down 16-18 in the second game, the Badgers used a four-point run to take the lead which they would never relinquish in a 30-26 win. The game-shifting run included a service ace from Mills, which was one of the team's three service aces in the match.
With the loss, Wisconsin falls into a three-way tie for second-place in the Big Ten Conference with Purdue and 17th- ranked Minnesota (20-5, 10-4 Big Ten) next weekend. The Badgers travel to Iowa Friday for a 7 p.m. match.
