Wisconsin Sweeps Ohio State
November 19, 2007 | Volleyball
The ninth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team wrapped up the road portion of the Big Ten Conference season with a 30-21, 30-19, 30-14 win at Ohio State. The Badgers (23-4 overall, 15-3 Big Ten) wrap up their road season with a 9-1 record.
'It was a great final Big Ten road win,' said Coach Pete Waite. 'We're ready to come back home and finish up the Big Ten season. '
Wisconsin turned in an impressive all-around performance, hitting .346 behind the setting of Jackie Simpson, who put up 40 assists. The Badgers also outblocked the Buckeyes 12 to 5 and outdug the Scarlet and Gray 41 to 35.
'I was really pleased with our overall performance tonight,' said Waite. 'Jackie was very on offensively and spreading the ball out to our hitters and we saw some great numbers by (Caity) DuPont, (Brittney) Dolgner and (Kat) Dykstra. '
The Badgers had three players in double-figure kills, led by a match-high 12 from Brittney Dolgner. Katherine Dykstra and Caity DuPont each put down 11 kills as Dykstra led all hitters at .588.
Dykstra also had a match-high seven blocks to key the Badger block. Audra Jeffers added five blocks and Taylor Reineke had four stuffs for the UW. Dolgner turned in a double-double, adding 11 digs to her 12 kills. Jocelyn Wack also had 11 digs for the Badgers.
Wisconsin's tough defense allowed Ohio State (13-14, 7-11) to hit only .063 for the match. The Buckeyes Kristi Hunter had 11 kills as the only player in double digits. Only one OSU player hit above .100.
Wisconsin also had one of its strongest serving performances with four service aces and only one service error. The Badgers were only aced once in the match.
'Our serving was tough; we kept them out of their offense,' commented Waite. 'Our passing was solid and it let us stay in the flow of things. Anytime you can keep a great player like Danielle Meyer down as far as her kills and hitting percentage; it's a good night for us.'
The Badgers never trailed in game one as the Buckeyes hit just .024 for the period. Wisconsin jumped out to a 4-1 lead on a service ace by Amanda Berkley and never looked back. OSU cut the lead to two (7-5) off a UW hitting error but Wisconsin scored two straight to take a four-point lead. The Badgers upped their lead to 13-7 off a DuPont service ace but Ohio State cut it to three (19-16), taking advantage of two of their three blocks for the period. DuPont had three kills over the last 10 points to key the Wisconsin win.
UW used runs of 5-0 and 10-1 to take control of game two. Wisconsin trailed 3-5 before scoring five straight to go up 8-5. Behind the front-row play of Dykstra, the UW upped its lead from 14-10 to 24-11. Dykstra had three of her five kills in the game and teamed with Reineke on a block to key the run. Dolgner led all hitters with six kills in the period as Wisconsin upped its hitting percentage to .429 in the game.
Wisconsin dominated game three, hitting .455 compared to .000 for Ohio State. The Badgers took a 6-1 lead as the Buckeyes had five unforced errors. The UW added five blocks and 15 digs for the period as it turned in an impressive defensive effort.
The Badgers wrap up the regular season with two Big Ten matches in the UW Field House on Friday and Saturday. Wisconsin takes on last-place Iowa on Friday in the annual senior night before hosting third-place Minnesota on Saturday.
