Solid effort falls short in Border Battle
November 14, 2008 | Volleyball
It took an extra effort and countless extra points but it was not enough for the Badger volleyball team to get a win Friday night at the UW Field House. Wisconsin fell short against 15th-ranked Minnesota in five sets in front of 5,644 fans. The Golden Gophers completed the season sweep of the Badgers with an 18-25, 25-18, 25-27, 31-29, 19-17 thriller. Wisconsin drops to 16-11 overall and 6-9 in the Big Ten Conference while Minnesota improves to 21-6, 11-4.
'Well it certainly was an exciting match,' UW head coach Pete Waite said. 'I thought our kids played hard, played with a lot of heart, some great intensity, some great plays. I wish, obviously, we would have come out on top so they would have been rewarded for their efforts and gotten a win here tonight because that was a big one against a very good team. I was proud of the effort. When it goes to extra points, you know it was a battle out there.'
Four Badger players finished with double-digit kills, led by junior Brittney Dolgner 's match-high 27 kills. Dolgner had 53 attempts, finishing with a team-best .340 hitting percentage. Junior Caity DuPont finished with 14 kills while senior Audra Jeffers added 12 kills. Freshman Janelle Gabrielsen had 10 kills and as a team, the Badgers hit .215 compared to just .162 for Minnesota.
The Golden Gophers were led by Lauren Gibbemeyer and Brook Dieter, who had 16 kills each. Kyla Roehrig added 10 kills.
Gabrielsen finished with a team-high 39 assists and was just two digs away from her second career triple-double. Sophomore Nikki Klingsporn also added 26 assists. Rachel Hartmann from Minnesota led all players with 52 assists.
The Badgers out-dug Minnesota but were out-blocked by the Gophers. Wisconsin finished with 81 digs while Minnesota had 76. Sophomore libero Kim Kuzma had a match-high 25 digs and two other Badgers finished with double-digit digs including 16 for Dolgner and 12 for Klingsporn. Christine Tan led the Gophers with 23 saves.
Minnesota out-blocked Wisconsin 15-12. Jeffers and senior Morgan Salow led the Badgers with six stuffs each. Gibbemeyer led all players with nine blocks while Roehrig added seven blocks.
While the Badgers put together a solid effort against a ranked opponent, they continued to struggle from the service line. Wisconsin finished with 16 service errors, three in the decisive fifth set. The Badgers did have four aces on the night but Minnesota finished with eight aces and nine errors.
'We work on it all the time; it's a matter of them staying composed and staying with the correct technique,' Waite said of the team's service errors. 'Sometimes they are going with too much adrenaline and its going long so we will continue to give them the drills to work on it and go from there.'
Wisconsin jumped to a 5-1 lead in set one but it was short lived as Minnesota rallied to tie the score at 11. The Badgers had four straight service errors, allowing the Golden Gophers to take a 17-14 lead. With Ohlander at the service line, UW scored eight straight points, including three from Jeffers (two kills and a block solo), to take a 22-17 lead. Ohlander's streak came to an end on another service ace but Jeffers put down another kill and teamed with Dolgner on a block to put Wisconsin up 24-18. The Gophers hit a negative .083 for the set as a hitting error from Gibbemeyer gave the Badgers the win.
Behind the play of Gibbemeyer, the Gophers broke open set two early, taking a 15-7 lead. Wisconsin trailed 16-11 but scored five straight to pull within one (16-15), behind two kills from Jeffers. But Gibbemeyer had two of her set-high four kills and added two blocks to even the match for Minnesota.
The third set was a battle with 18 ties and nine lead changes. No team led by more than one point until the Badgers scored two straight to take a 16-14 lead. Wisconsin led by three (20-17) but Dieter had two kills to pull the Gophers even at 20. UW served for set point twice (24-22 and 24-23) but Minnesota wasn't through as it scored three straight to serve for set point at 25-24. The Badgers had two blocks to go up 26-25 before a kill from Dolgner gave UW the set 27-25.
Wisconsin led by three points twice in the fourth set, including at 23-20 but Minnesota scored three straight to knot the score at 23. The Badgers served for their first of four set points at 24-23 but the Gophers would rally each time. The set came down to 29-29 when Gibbemeyer had a kill and teamed with Hartmann on a block for the win.
The match stayed tight in the fifth set with neither team leading by more than two points. Minnesota had the 14-12 lead but kills by Dolgner and DuPont erased set point and gave the Badgers a chance with the score tied at 14. Minnesota again took the 15-14 lead but the Badgers evened the score with a Gopher service error and had match point at 16-15 after a Minnesota attack error. Minnesota again knotted the score and took the lead at 17-16 but the Badgers would tie the score one more time at 17 after a Dolgner kill. Minnesota rallied back though and a kill by Gibbemeyer and Badger attack error gave the Gophers the 19-17 win.
'The way they battled tonight, it showed that they are playing with more fire than they have all season and we have wanted to be building to this point.,' Waite said. 'Again, one play here or there and that's our match. But still we have to come back and battle on Sunday and bring that same intensity and same play and same level and get after it. We are not done by far.
Wisconsin returns to action Sunday at 1 p.m. when Iowa comes to the UW Field House.
