Badgers Drop Regional Final
December 10, 2005 | Volleyball
For the second year in a row, the season for the Wisconsin volleyball team came to an end in the finals of the NCAA regionals. The 12th-ranked Badgers fell to third-ranked Washington 30-28, 30-25, 30-23. Wisconsin ends its season 26-7 while Washington goes to the final four at 30-1.
'We're really proud of our team and the way we played tonight,' said head coach Pete Waite. 'I think we just ran into a very good team.'
The Badgers were unable to overcome the offensive power of the Huskies. Washington finished with a 56-42 advantage in kills and also outhit Wisconsin .203 - .162. Tournament most valuable player Christal Morrison led all hitters with 21 kills while all-tournament selection Sanja Tomasevic added 17 kills for the Huskies.
Wisconsin was led by Audra Jeffers, Aubrey Meierotto and Sheila Shaw, who all had 10 kills, accounting for 30 of the Badgers' 42 team kills. Shaw led all hitters at .350 as Jackie Simpson put up 36 assists running the UW offense.
The Badgers outblocked the Huskies 13 ' 11.5, only the third time all season that the UW has lost when it had more blocks. Taylor Reineke led all blockers with nine stuffs, including two solos. She tied the UW season record for block assists with 181. Shaw and Simpson each added four blocks.
'You try to do what you did to come out here,' said Waite of the UW defense which averaged 3.77 blocks per game in the tournament's first three matches. 'I think we held our opponent hitter's shots quite a bit.'
All-tournament selection Jocelyn Wack set an NCAA record with her 64th consecutive match with double-figure digs. The 5-11 libero had a match-high 22 digs, breaking the record of 63 straight matches with 10-or-more digs set by Giselle Lopez-Pereira of Virginia Commonwealth earlier this season. Wack also set the UW season record with 595 digs and with 5.17 digs per game, breaking her own records of 567 digs and 4.93 digs per game.
Maria Carlini, who had 15 digs for the Badgers, was also selected to the all-tournament team. Washington finished with a one-dig advantage (65-64) and was led by Candace Lee with 21 digs.
Game one was a closely fought battle featuring 14 ties and five lead changes. The Huskies took a 12-8 lead, behind two team blocks. The Badgers battled back to tie the score at 12 off a block from Shaw and Simpson. The two teams stayed close in the game until Wisconsin broke an 18-18 tie to take its biggest lead of the game at 22-19. But Washington came right back with three kills from Hagerty for another tie at 23-23. The Huskies went up by three (27-24) but two kills from Jeffers brought the Badgers even at 27-27. A Shaw kill tied the score at 28-28 before a kill from Morrison and a Huskie block gave Washington the game. The Badgers outblocked (4.0 ' 3.5) and outhit (.239 - .186) the Huskies in the game but couldn't stop their offense. Washington had 22 kills including 10 from Morrison, while Wisconsin had just 16 kills.
'I think we had a shot at that first game,' said Waite. 'Our hitting was good early then we gave them a string of points at the end that took the momentum over to Washington's side. If we had gotten that first game, it might have been a different story.'
The Badgers struggled offensively in game two, hitting .073 and putting down just 12 kills. In contrast, the Huskies hit .200 and put down 17 kills. Wisconsin stayed with Washington early, coming back from a 9-7 deficit to take a 10-9. The Badger comeback was energized by the front-row play of Reineke, who had two blocks and a kill. Tomasevic led the Huskies with two kills as they went on a 3-0 run to go up 13-10. Wisconsin would cut the lead to one (14-13) and to two (21-19) but the Badgers couldn 't stop Tomasevic, who had six kills in the game, and the Huskies from going up two games to none.
Game three was very similar to game two with the Badgers staying close but unable to hold off the Huskies offense. Washington had its best hitting percentage of the match at .263, pounding down 17 kills as a team. Wisconsin improved to .163 with 14 kills. The Badgers led early in the period, going up 8-3, on the blocking of Reineke. The 6-3 middle blocker had one block solo and teamed with Carlini and Simpson on blocks for the Badger lead. The Huskies went on an 11-3 run to take a 14-11 lead they would never relinquish. The Badgers cut the lead to one four times, including at 17-16, but consecutive UW errors put the Huskies out of reach.
'We have had great leadership here with our seniors last year and this year,' said Waite of Shaw and Meierotto who appeared in their final match for UW. 'Our inspiration for next year will be to make it to the final four. But they will be hard to replace.'
