Gabrielsen's triple double not enough for UW win
November 08, 2008 | Volleyball
Despite several career-high performances, the Wisconsin volleyball team fell in four sets at 20th-ranked Michigan. The Wolverines edged the Badgers 18-25, 28-26, 28-26, 25-19 to move to 20-6 on the season (8-6 Big Ten Conference) while Wisconsin falls to 16-10, 6-8. Michigan takes over sole possession of fifth place in the conference while the Badgers move into a tie for sixth place with Indiana.
Freshman Janelle Gabrielsen became only the third UW player in school history to record a triple double and the first since 1988. The setter/outside hitter had a career-high 13 kills and also added 15 assists and 10 digs. She also led the Badgers with a .429 hitting percentage and added four blocks. Gabrielsen was one of two UW players to record double-digit kills in the match. The Badgers were led by Brittney Dolgner with 16 kills. Caity DuPont added nine kills and Audra Jeffers put down eight kills for Wisconsin.
'It was a great match and very competitive,' UW head coach Pete Waite said. 'We saw some great things out of our players and a lot of them finished with career-highs. Overall we competed better than we have been ' Faye McCormack came in and did a great job in the back row for us. Nellie Gabrielsen had a career night with a triple double and that's just fantastic. We're not happy with the results but we're pleased with the efforts and the progress we made.'
Wisconsin recorded a higher hitting percentage than Michigan (.244 to .218) but the Wolverines finished with 70 kills, compared to 55 for the Badgers. Three UM players combined for 56 kills, led by Alex Hunt with 20. Beth Karpiak and Juliana Paz both added 18 kills for the Wolverines.
UW out-blocked Michigan 16.5 to seven, which is Wisconsin's second-highest total for the season. Jeffers led all blockers with eight stuffs while Morgan Salow added a career-high seven blocks.
Both teams had five players in double-digit digs. Kim Kuzma led all players with 20 digs while Nikki Klingsporn tied her career best with 13 digs. Senior Faye McCormack turned in a career-high 12 digs while Dolgner recorded a double-double, adding 10 digs. Klingsporn also had a double-double with a team-high 29 assists.
The Wolverines had five service aces on the night, including three from Maggie Busch, while Wisconsin only had one service ace from Dolgner. The Badgers also gave up eight service errors.
The Badgers broke a 13-13 tie in the first set, scoring four straight points to go up 17-13. Dolgner had three kills to lead the UW run. Michigan struggled with its hitting late in the period, as it hit only .021 for the set while Wisconsin hit .250.
The second set featured 11 ties and four set points. The Badgers led 22-19 off a kill from Gabrielsen but the Wolverines came back behind three kills from Hunt to knot the score at 23. Wisconsin served for set point at 24-23 but another Hunt kill sent the period into extra points. UW held off two Wolverine set points (25-24 and 26-25) before back-to-back kills from Juliana Paz and Megan Bower evened the match at one set apiece.
Wisconsin rallied from a 17-12 deficit in the third set, scoring five straight to tie the score at 17. Two blocks from Jeffers and Salow keyed the UW run. The game was tied six more times, including at 23-23. Wisconsin held off the first Michigan set point at 24-23 with a kill from Dolgner and a Wolverine hitting error allowed the Badgers to serve for set point at 25-24. But Michigan rallied again, serving for set point at 26-25 and again at 27-26. A Wolverine block gave the home team a 28-26 win.
UW trailed for much of the fourth period by as many as seven points (17-10) but the Badgers rallied to pull within two at 21-19. Michigan scored four straight to take the match.
The Badgers return home next weekend, hosting 17th-ranked Minnesota and Iowa in the UW Field House.
