Wisconsin Sweeps Minnesota
November 24, 2007 | Volleyball
The ninth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team wrapped up the Big Ten Conference season with a 30-19, 30-17, 30-16 win over Minnesota on Saturday night in the UW Field House. The Badgers (25-4 overall) end the regular season in second place in the conference at 17-3. The victories are the most Big Ten wins for the UW since 2001.
'I thought it was an outstanding team effort by everyone in every position tonight for us,' said Coach Pete Waite. 'We were solid, very strong in our serving. (On) defense, everyone was dialed in and picking up some tough attacks. Morgan (Salow) came in and did a great job starting for Audra (Jeffers) tonight. It was great to see her to step up.'
Salow also felt confident in second night starting at middle blocker. 'I felt really good coming in for Audie and I was pretty confident. I had to do it for the team; I think tonight I felt a little bit better; we just had more fire. I felt a lot better about tonight.'
Salow finished with seven kills and a .462 attack percentage in place of the injured Jeffers. She also added one service ace and three blocks.
Senior co-captain Taylor Reineke led all hitters with her 14 kills and .667 hitting percentage while sophomore Brittney Dolgner added 10 of her own.
Wisconsin dominated offensively, connecting on .267 percent of its attacks as a team, putting down 46 kills. The Golden Gophers totaled just 28 kills and also had 28 attack errors for a zero hitting percentage.
Waite credited the Badgers strong performance as the service line for keeping Minnesota in check.
'Serve tough; that was our goal,' said Waite. 'We've been working on it all year and I think the team realized its time to get it done now. We had pressure on them the whole time which kept them out of their offense; kept them out of rhythm and kept them on their heels. It gave us momentum throughout the entire match. '
Freshman Brook Dieter was the only Gopher in double figures with 10 kills while three starters hit for negative percentages.
Wisconsin had six service aces, including two each from Caity DuPont and Jocelyn Wack, while Minnesota could not score on the Badgers from the service line.
'(Serving) was the key for us tonight,' commented Waite. 'We say it all the time ' serve tough and pass well and you can beat anybody and we served extremely tough tonight.'
Minnesota managed to outblock Wisconsin (11-7) but UW outdug the Gophers 35 to 29. Jackie Simpson led Wisconsin with her four block assists and also had 35 set assists on the night. Wack had 12 digs to lead all players on defense.
'I think our block did a good job taking (away) areas they wanted (to hit to), ' said Waite. 'They swung out of bounds on a number of shots. We didn 't get the block in the stat but we got the point on the scoreboard.'
The Badgers played in front of 5,629 fans for their match, upping their Big Ten total to 59,704 spectators for 10 home matches. The total and their season average of 5,970 spectators per match, shatters the UW's previous Big Ten best of 4,711 fans per match set last season.
After the Gophers tied the score at 4-4 in game one, Wisconsin went on a four-point run thanks to kills from Reineke, Dolgner and a block from Simpson. After getting the ball back to serve, the Badgers then pulled away as they scored 10 consecutive points to take the lead 20-9. Wack recorded two service aces and Simpson and Salow added two block assists during this run. DuPont's kill gave UW the win in game one.
In the second game, Wisconsin jumped to an early lead at 6-0 which it never relinquished. UW continued to extend its point margin later in the game with a five-point run to take a 10 point lead (22-12). Dolgner's kill gave the Badgers the win in the second matchup.
UW rallied to tie the score at 7-7 in the third game and then started a four-point run with kills from Dolgner and Reineke. After capitalizing on four Minnesota hitting errors, UW found itself ahead 24-13. With a kill by Dolgner and three more consecutive Gopher hitting errors, Wisconsin completed the season sweep of Minnesota.
Wisconsin will be looking for its 15th overall and 12th straight NCAA tournament appearance when the 64-team championship field is announced on Sunday. The announcement will be broadcast live on ESPNU at 7 p.m. The UW has the possibility of hosting first and second-round matches in the UW Field House on Nov. 30 ' Dec. 1 while it will host one of four NCAA regionals on Dec. 7-8.
