Wisconsin Sweeps Northern Iowa, Advances to Second Round
November 30, 2007 | Volleyball
The eighth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team (26-4) swept Northern Iowa (22-11), 30-23, 30-21 and 30-24 on Friday night in front of 3,194 at the UW Field House. With the win, UW advances to the second round of the NCAA tournament and will face Iowa State (18-13) at 7 p.m. Saturday night.
'I thought that was a great start to the tournament for us,' said Coach Pete Waite. 'Northern Iowa is a scrappy team and a team that we saw earlier this year and they have improved a lot since that time. I don't think the first time we met it was as close of a match. They made some great plays, played some great defense and kept battling all the way to the end.'
Sophomore Brittney Dolgner led all hitters as she recorded 20 kills in the three-game match. Senior co-captain Taylor Reineke had 10 kills of her own while Caity DuPont, Audra Jeffers and Katherine Dykstra all contributed eight kills a piece. Wisconsin totaled 56 kills as a team and hit .355.
The Panthers, who were led by Ashten Stelken and Laura Rowen with 12 kills on the night, put down 45 kills and hit .231.
'I thought (Brittney) looked more sharp and fresh than she has in a while, ' expressed Waite. 'She has had some nagging injuries this season but she knows its tournament time so she definitely picked it up.'
Jeffers returned to tonight's lineup after sitting out the last two matches of the regular season with a foot injury. 'It felt great to be out there,' said Jeffers. 'I thought Morgan (Salow) did a great job last weekend coming in and playing. I just was happy to be out there again playing with the team.'
Wisconsin held the advantage in blocks (5-2), service aces (7-5) and digs (52-39). Jocelyn Wack tallied 25 digs in the match, which ranks as the second-highest UW three-game match record in digs. Wack also led all players with two service aces.
'Jo Wack had a huge night for us with 25 digs so she seemed to be all over the place and really had a nose for the ball tonight,' commented Waite.
Jackie Simpson racked up 49 set assists for UW while UNI's Kristin Belzung recorded 36 assists.
In game one, Dykstra led UW with her five kills and Jeffers chipped in four of her own. Despite seven ties in the first part of the game, Wisconsin took the lead at 15-14 and never looked back. A kill from Dykstra set up game point for the Badgers, who took the one game advantage by capitalizing on an attack error from Rowen.
Game two had five early ties, but once the Badgers pulled ahead at 7-6, they never relinquished the lead. Dolgner led Wisconsin with five kills and hit .556 in the second meeting. Game point was set up for UW after UNI was called for a net violation and the Badgers took the two game lead with a kill from DuPont.
Wisconsin had to rally to even the score at 15-15 in the third game before proceeding on a four-point rally to take the lead at 19-16. Once the Badgers got the serve back they proceeded on a six-point run and Berkley recorded two service aces during that time. A service error by UNI's Belzung gave Wisconsin match point. The Panthers scored three straight points before Dolgner sealed the sweep for Wisconsin with her match-winning kill.
UW will face Iowa State (18-11), a 3-2 winner over No. 16 San Diego in the first round, for the second straight year in the second round of the tournament.
