Nov. 6, 2010
Wisconsin 3, Northwestern 2
Welsh-Ryan Arena • Evanston, Ill. | |
 |
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | | Northwestern | 25
| 22 | 17 | 25 | 19 | Wisconsin
| 16
| 25 | 25 | 21 | 21 | | | | Stats Leaders
| | Northwestern |
| Wisconsin | | Shalter - 21 | Digs | Kuzma - 28 | | Glab - 60 | Assists | Gabrielsen - 58 | | Moffett - 27 | Kills | Mikaelsen - 19 | | Moffett - .524 | Hit % | Mikaelsen - .372 | | Moffett - 5 | Blocks | Mikaelsen - 3 | |
Stats Comparison
| NW |
WIS
| Kills
| 69 | 69 | Hitting Pct.
| .230 |
.253 | Assists
| 66 | 69 | | Service Aces | 4 | 2 | Service Pct.
| .880 | .989 | Digs
| 73 | 91 | Total Blocks
| 11 | 6 | | |
| |
Box Score | Box Score 
EVANSTON, Ill. - Coming back from a 9-6 deficit in the fifth set, the Wisconsin volleyball team was able to pull out its first win over a top-25 team this season. In a tight five-set match, the Badgers (15-10, 4-10) upset Northwestern (17-8, 7-7), 16-25, 25-22, 25-17, 21-25, 21-19, on Saturday night as Julie Mikaelsen and Allison Wack continued to lead the Badgers with standout performances.
Fast Facts
| | • Mikaelsen leads Badgers with a career-high 19 kills | | • First win over a ranked opponent this season | | • Wack made eight of her 16 kills in fifth set comeback | |
Mikaelsen finished the match with a career-high 19 kills and a team-high .372 hitting percentage. The reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week also added team highs with two service aces and three blocks to her stat line against the Wildcats.
Wack finished the night with 16 kills, eight of which came in the team's fifth set comeback. Alexis Mitchell and Bailey Reshel also added double digit kills to the Badger's 69 total, Mitchell with 14 and Reshel with 11. Mitchell and Dominique Thompson also had two blocks.
Janelle Gabrielsen put up 58 assists on the night running the UW offense and also added two blocks while Kim Kuzma had a match-high 28 digs.
Northwestern was led by Sabel Moffett, who tallied a match-high 27 kills, five blocks and an impressive .524 hitting percentage.
Stephanie Holthus and Naomi Johnson also added to the Wildcats game as Holthus finished with 10 kills and three blocks while Johnson made 11 kills and four blocks. Madalyn Shalter also made four blocks to add to Northwestern's 11 total blocks on the night.
The two teams finished with an even stat line with 69 kills each and 69 assists for Wisconsin and 66 for the Wildcats. Northwestern finished with two more service aces (4-2) and ahead in blocks (11-6). The Badger's defense made nearly 20 more digs with a season-high 91 to the Wildcat's 73.
The Badgers came back from a tough 25-16 first set loss to even things up with a 25-22 win in the second. The set contained 11 ties, including at 22-22 when Thompson brought the Badgers ahead with a kill. An error on Northwestern's part gave UW the set point and Gabrielsen finished off the set with a kill.
The third set started off with two quick ties until Mikaelsen was able to spark a 4-0 run, giving Wisconsin a 7-3 lead. The Badgers controlled the point advantage for most of the set, cruising to a 25-17 win.
Northwestern was not about to give up that easily thought as it came out strong with a 9-2 advantage early in the fourth set. The Wildcats upped their lead to 14-4 before the Badgers slowly rallied to pull within four at 20-16. Wisconsin went on a 4-2 run to make it 22-20 but two kills from Moffett and a kill from Shalter gave Northwestern the set and evened the match.
The Wildcats used the momentum from the fourth set as they found themselves up 9-6 in the fifth set. The Badgers didn't back down, going on a 6-3 run behind three kills from Mitchell to tie the set at 12.
The two teams battled it out in the final set with seven tie scores from the 12-12 knot. Wisconsin served for match point at 15-14 but Northwestern battled back to serve for match point twice - at 16-15 and again at 17-16. But it was Wack, who would record three kills over the last four points to give the Badgers the upset.
The Badgers will continue their road swing next weekend, taking on Penn State and Ohio State on Friday and Nov. 14.
