Box Score | Box Score 
MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin volleyball team (11-11, 6-7) was overmatched by No. 1 Penn State on Friday, losing in three sets 25-15, 25-13, 25-21. Despite the loss, the Badgers still maintain a .500 overall record.
“Penn State showed why they are the No. 1 team in the country (and) the No. 1 team in the Big Ten,” said head coach Pete Waite. “They’re an excellent, athletic team, but I’m disappointed we didn’t come out stronger to start with. I think we gave them some points just because they had Penn State on their uniform, rather than us really making them earn the points. We gave them some unforced errors.”
Penn State (25-0, 13-0) was able to restrict the Badgers’ offense to a hitting percentage of .000 with 12 team blocks and 41 digs. Arielle Wilson led all players with eight stuffs for the Nittany Lions, while Alyssa D’Errico had a match-high 12 digs.
“Yes, they blocked some balls but we also hit a lot of balls out of bounds and that’s just something you can’t do against a team like this,” said Waite. “You can’t give them any freebies. At times, their block will make you think about swinging elsewhere, but you still have to attack them and we didn’t do that tonight. We have to have that mindset going into tomorrow night against Ohio State where we are attacking that opponent, attacking that block.”
Alexis Mitchell led the UW offense with eight kills, while Janelle Gabrielsen tallied 21 assists. Gabrielsen also chipped in five kills and led the Badgers with a .667 hitting percentage.
The Badgers held Penn State to a .287 hitting percentage, which is in stark contrast to its season average of .412 percent. Mitchell helped to slow the Nittany Lions’ offense, stuffing a team-high four shots. Wisconsin had just six team blocks and 25 digs. Kim Kuzma led the UW with six digs.
PSU was led by Megan Hodge with 12 kills, while Blair Brown and Darcy Dorton added eight apiece.
Penn State recorded its 89th consecutive victory and is now tied for third on the NCAA’s list of all-time winning streaks across sports alongside the 2003-07 Stanford women’s tennis team.
Penn State opened the first set scoring six consecutive points, three of which came off blocks. The Badgers narrowed the deficit to four several times, but the Nittany Lions soon ran away with the set, winning 25-15.
The Badgers competed with the Nittany Lions early on in the second set with a tie score of three. However, Penn State then went on a 9-2 run to take a convincing 12-5 lead. Wisconsin showed flashes of resiliency in the second set, scoring three straight points to trail 23-13. However, Penn State would prove to be too much to handle as it closed out the set, 25-13.
Wisconsin carried this momentum into the third set, where it forced five ties. Down 4-0, the Badgers battled back to even the set at four all. UW would repeatedly answer Penn State’s attacks, tying the score an additional four times. With the score notched up at 11, Penn State broke open a 4-0 run to take a 15-11 advantage. The Badgers continued to exchange points with the Nittany Lions, but ultimately lost the match 25-21. Wisconsin held Penn State to a .182 hitting percentage in the third set, well under its hitting percentages in the first two sets of .345 and .360 percent, respectively.
“They really put on a clinic tonight,” Waite said. “I thought we woke up in the third set and realized we could play with them but it was just too little too late.”
After the match, Waite spoke about the difficulties Penn State presents in a match.
“They’ve got size, athletic ability, a wide variety of shots,” Waite said. “It’s very difficult to set up your block at a certain spot and then your defense around it because they’re hitting at height and angles that most teams in the Big Ten, most teams in the country, can’t physically do. It’s hard to prepare yourself for that when they’re on. To beat that, you really have to serve tough and I don’t think we did that well tonight.”
Although sweeps can be difficult to handle, Waite says that the team needs to come out ready to play on Saturday.
“We didn’t leave everything on the floor here because we just made so many errors and it made for a quick match,” Waite said. “I think we should be extremely motivated and pretty ticked off that we played like that against a team we had a shot at in our home gym. We had a great crowd and the fans were fantastic. We have to come out pretty pumped up tomorrow night against Ohio State because they’re a very, very good team.”
Wisconsin drew a season-high attendance of 5,365 in the UW Field House.
The Badgers continue their homestand on Saturday at 6 p.m. with a match against Ohio State. Wisconsin is set for a battle as Ohio State now owns sole possession of fifth place in the Big Ten.
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JT Luljak
Wisconsin Athletic Communications
