Wisconsin Falls to Penn State
November 16, 2007 | Volleyball
The ninth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team couldn't stop top-ranked Penn State, falling to the Nittany Lions 30-28, 30-22, 24-30 and 30-25. Penn State (25-2 overall, 17-0 Big Ten) clinches a record fifth-consecutive Big Ten Conference title while the Badgers (22-4, 14-3) will finish the season in second place.
'Penn State is a powerful team; they deserve a No. 1 ranking and they certainly have a right to take the Big Ten championship,' said Coach Pete Waite. 'Early in the first game we were actually playing well and had the lead, but they kind of stormed back. We weren't able to slow them down and it looked like after the second game, it looked like they might win in three.'
Wisconsin was unable to stop Penn State's powerful offense as the Badgers ' recorded their second-lowest block total of the season at 7.5. Senior Taylor Reineke led the UW with seven blocks while Brittney Dolgner added three stuffs. The Nittany Lions nearly doubled up the Badgers with their 14 team blocks.
'(Penn State is) one of the most physical teams in the country, across every position,' said Waite. 'They're big on the block and they can hit over the top. It's tough to defend; our whole team had to be serving tough and keeping them out of their offense, which got us the third game win.'
The PSU block allowed the UW to hit just .208 for the match while the Nittany Lions hit .346. Penn State had three players in double-digit kills, led by a match-high 24 from Nicole Fawcett. Wisconsin was led by Brittney Dolgner with 20 kills while Katherine Dykstra added 10 kills. The Nittany Lions totaled 74 team kills while the Badgers put down 61 kills.
Penn State finished with a 51-46 advantage in digs. Jocelyn Wack led the Badgers with 15 digs while Dolgner added 11 digs.
Wisconsin won the serving battle, recording seven service aces while getting aced three times. Caity DuPont scored a career-high three service aces to lead all servers.
After seven early ties, Wisconsin broke an 8-8 knot, scoring four straight to go up 12-8. DuPont had two service aces to key the run. The Badgers took their biggest lead of the game at 14-9 and held a four-point lead at 19-15. With Fawcett on the serving line, the Nittany Lions scored three straight to pull within one. Penn State took advantage of poor Wisconsin passing, scoring two straight on overpasses. PSU tied the game at 21 and the period was tied three more times, including a 26. The Badgers held off three Nittany Lion game points until a kill from Megan Hodge gave Penn State the game at 30-28.
The Nittany Lions broke open game two, scoring three straight to take an 18-15 lead. Wisconsin stayed within two points until Penn State went on another 3-0 rally to take a 24-19 lead off one of their four blocks in the period. PSU was near unstoppable on offense in the game, connecting on more than 64 percent of their attacks, while the Badgers had only one team block in the game.
Wisconsin handed Penn State its first game loss of the second half of the Big Ten season as it took the third period 30-24. The Badgers broke a 17-17 tie in game three, outscoring the Nittany Lions 4-1 to take a 21-18 lead. Wisconsin had two key blocks down the stretch to stop PSU's offense. Both teams hit 28 percent offensively.
'I was real happy with the way our team picked it up and came out of the locker room and got the win in the third,' said Waite. 'We were playing some of the best ball we've seen in the last three or four weeks. Things started clicking again; our passing started picking up, our serving was tougher and I think they felt much better about their game.
'I think (our win in game three) actually shows that we are the top two teams in the conference,' expressed Waite. 'I'm happy for the fact that we did that as we could possibly meet a team that is just as strong as PS in the NCAA tournament.'
Game four was another battle with Penn State breaking open the period, scoring two straight to take a 23-21 lead. Wisconsin stayed within two points until a Nittany Lion block and kill put the home team up 26-24. The Badgers held off one match point at 29-25 until a service ace from Fawcett put the match away.
'In the fourth game, we were in it about halfway through, but weren't able to hang with them,' commented Waite. 'It was good that we found ourselves again and I think we'll get back on track.'
Wisconsin wraps up the conference road season on Monday at Ohio State before returning home for matches against Iowa and Minnesota next weekend.
