Volleyball Looks to Keep Rolling in Big Ten
November 09, 2006 | Volleyball
For the next two weeks, the No. 10 Wisconsin volleyball team looks to build on its success with a four-match home stand. With only six Big Ten Conference matches remaining, the Badgers (19-5 overall, 11-3 Big Ten) look forward to four in the UW Field House including this weekend's matchups. The UW welcomes Northwestern (13-10, 7-7) at 7 p.m. Friday and Illinois (14-10, 5-9) Saturday at 7 p.m. to their home court.
'I'll tell you what, it's not just that we're getting the wins at home, the level we're playing is something that's 'just been unbelievable,' UW head coach Pete Waite said. 'The fans have been great; the (attendance) numbers have been great, but the team has been so focused at home. It's enjoyable as a coach to see it because you can pretty much sit back ' they're just so focused on the court that they're on automatic and it's been a blast.
'We're hoping to keep that up and they really did last weekend 'take that same feeling on the road. And I think that's the burst that the Penn State, Ohio State weekend gave us.'
Wisconsin is still rolling after sweeping then-No. 2 Penn State and then-No. 24 Ohio State on Oct. 27 and Oct. 29. The Badgers continued their winning ways last weekend, downing both Michigan and Michigan State on the road last weekend. The wins, as well as a Minnesota loss at Michigan last Saturday night, has moved the UW into a tie for second place in the Big Ten.
Wisconsin opened up last weekend with a dominating 3-0 sweep over the Wolverines. The Badgers out-scored Michigan, 30-26, 30-14, 30-25 and ended the night with a .315 hitting percentage. Senior Maria Carlini hit .344 in the match and led the UW with 13 kills.
UW then traveled to East Lansing and despite struggling in the second game, pulled away with a 3-1 win over the Spartans (30-20, 23-30, 30-21, 30-22). Five players ended the night in double-digit kills, including freshman Brittney Dolgner's team leading 16 kills. Junior Taylor Reineke tied her career best with 14 kills while Carlini added 12 kills. Senior Amy Bladow and sophomore Audra Jeffers added 11 and 10 kills, respectively.
The wins over Michigan and MSU marked the first time the Badgers won both Big Ten matches on the road since their conference-season opening wins at Illinois and Northwestern in September.
'A lot of teams will have one or two people that'll go 15 to 20 (kills) and then the others will have two to four,' Waite said regarding the strong offense against MSU. 'And we can key on those kind of players and slow them down. It's very hard when we've got five going at people or even four, which is pretty common for us.'
Wisconsin heads into this weekend's match-up riding a 10-match home winning streak and have won its last five matches overall. In their last four matches, the Badgers are hitting .322 and averaging 17.15 kills and 16.15 assists per game as a team.
UW will look to keep those impressive statistics when they first face a streaking Northwestern team Friday. The Wildcats are on a three-match win streak and have moved into sixth place in the Big Ten standings. NU is led by junior outside hitter Lindsay Anderson 's 3.58 kills and 0.41 service aces per game. Junior outside hitter Courtney Paulus, a native of Belgium, Wis., contributes 2.94 kills per game while junior middle blocker Brittney Aldridge adds 2.27 kills and 1.17 blocks per game.
As for Illinois, it is tied for eighth in the Big Ten with Michigan and has dropped five of its last seven matches. Sophomore outside hitter Kayani Turner leads the Illini with 4.73 kills per game while junior middle blocker Vicki Brown chips in 3.77 kills per game and also leads the team with a .341 hitting percentage.
'Both of those teams are teams that right now are on the bubble for the NCAA tournament,' Waite said. 'In the Big Ten, there's times we 'll get six, seven teams coming out and they're right at that spot where I know they're fighting to get a big win to jump them up in the rankings in the RPI. And we know we don't want to be that team (that they beat) and so we need to take care of this weekend.'
For fans attending the matches this weekend, Friday night the second set of UW trading cards featuring UW players will be available and also a Free Crocs giveaway for Wisconsin students bearing their I.D. while supplies last. Saturday is Alumnae Night where former players will be recognized between games two and three.
