Badgers Win Over Michigan
November 09, 2007 | Volleyball
Scoring the last three points in game five, the 11th-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team (22-3 overall, 14-2 Big Ten) rallied to defeat Michigan in five games on Friday night. The Badgers edged the Wolverines 24-30, 30-27, 30-22 and 16-14 in front of 5,658 fans in the UW Field House. With the win, Wisconsin will finish no worse than second place in the 2007 Big Ten Conference standings.
'This team must like dramatic finishes because they're turning into the cardiac kids here,' said Coach Pete Waite. 'For me a little gray hair, ulcer and heart attack city, but you know, they did a great job.
Brittney Dolgner led the Badgers with her 24 kills and Audra Jeffers compiled a season-high 15 kills on the night. Taylor Reineke added 10 kills for the UW. Wisconsin recorded a team hitting percentage of .262 compared to Michigan's .254. Michigan 's Katie Brudzinkski led all hitters with 26 kills in the match.
Jeffers led the Badgers with five blocks while Reineke and Caity DuPont each contributed four blocks as both teams finished with 12 team blocks. Michigan's Beth Karpiak led all players with six stuffs and also added 13 kills.
The Wolverines played tough defense, outdigging the Badgers 73-67 with four players in double digits, including a match-high 23 from Stesha Selsky. Wisconsin was led by Jocelyn Wack with 22 digs while Amanda Berkley added a career-high 17 digs.
'In the end, they only out-dug us by six, but I think they were really beating us early and we really picked it up,' said Waite. 'I think Berkley dug some on the right side really well and Jo (Wack) picked it up in the back.'
Jackie Simpson had 63 set assists for the Badgers while Morgan Salow had two service aces from the service line as both teams recorded three service aces.
The Wolverines (19-8, 7-8) battled back from a five-point deficit to even the score at 12-12 in game one. Michigan continued to build its lead from kills by Veronica Rood and Lindsay Miller. Salow tried to help the Badgers rally late in the game, as she put down consecutive kills to bring UW within four points. The Wolverines took the first game by capitalizing on two consecutive Wisconsin errors. Salow led all UW hitters with her four kills in the first game.
When the Badgers got the ball in game two, they immediately went on a seven-point run as Salow recorded two service aces and Dolgner and Reineke also added kills. Michigan rallied to tie the game at 25-25, but UW sealed the win with a kill from Katherine Dykstra.
Michigan took game three, as UW found itself down 4-2 early in the game and was never able to recover. The Badgers were within one point at 25-24, but a kill from Miller gave the serve back to the Wolverines. Karpiak's kill gave Michigan the win in game three.
In game four, Wisconsin overcame a 6-1 deficit to even the score at 10. The score remained neck and neck before UW went on a seven-point run to go ahead 22-16 and never relinquished its lead. A kill from Dykstra once again gave Wisconsin the win.
'(We) got on track in the fourth game,' said Waite. 'We had some people come off the bench again and do a nice job. Caity DuPont and Katherine Dykstra did a nice job blocking some of their slides finally because they were really killing us with their slide attack. It was a whole team effort. We got a lot of people into the game. '
In the fifth game, the score was tied eight times, including at match point for the Wolverines, 14-13. With a kill from Dolgner, UW again forced the game in to extra points. Wisconsin won the match with a block solo from Simpson and Michigan's setter being called for a ball-handling error to improve to 14-2 in the Big Ten.
'I think (Michigan) did a good job '. they were serving some great balls,' said Waite. 'Some were short and really short and some were just sideline, really accurate serves. Sometimes teams get on like that and other nights they just serve it out of bounds or in the net, but they were putting them at the two (and) three-foot lines some of those balls. So that's really hard to keep your offense going. Jackie had to go to her knees to set some balls so give them credit for the game plan and executing it.'
Wisconsin takes to the road next week, in its last regular season road series. UW faces top-ranked Penn State next Friday night as the Badgers attempt to narrow the margin between themselves and the Nittany Lions. Penn State remains undefeated in the Big Ten at 15-0.
