Sept. 2, 2011
Box Score
N.C. State 3, Wisconsin 2
Reynolds Coliseum • Raleigh, N.C. | |
| |
 |
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Wisconsin
| 25 | 25 | 16 | 25 | 10 | N.C. State
| 21 | 15 | 25 | 27 | 15 | | | | Stats Leaders
| | Wisconsin | | N.C. State
| | Graff - 15 | Kills | Merriwether - 14 | | Thomas - 23 | Assists | Cyr - 46 | | Chapman - .226 | Hit %
| Cyr - .429 | | Hickey - 33 | Digs | Kearns - 19 | | Mitchell - 9 | Blocks | Merriwether - 9 | | Hickey - 4 | Aces | Salata - 3 | | Stats Comparison
| WIS | NCSU | | Kills | 51 | 58 | | Hitting Pct. | .123 | .120 | | Assists | 49 | 51 | | Service Aces | 6 | 7 | | Digs | 88 | 85 | | Total Blocks | 17.5 | 12.0 | | |
| |
• Box Score | Box Score 
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Wisconsin volleyball team had been up two sets to none against N.C. State in the second round of the N.C. State Courtyard Midtown Classic Friday night, but the host-Wolfpack came from behind to win the match in five sets. The Badgers fell 25-21, 25-15, 16-25, 25-27, 10-15, and are now 2-3 on the season.
Wisconsin also falls to 0-2 in five-set matches, previously losing to then-No. 17 Duke last weekend at the Duke Invitational.
| Fast Facts | | • Hickey's career-best 33 digs good for fifth all-time | | • Three other players set or tied career highs | | • Badgers outhit, outdig, outblock Wolfpack | |
N.C. State had at least one 5-0 run in each of the last three sets to eventually win the match.
Overall, Wisconsin committed five fewer errors than N.C. State. However, the Badgers only managed to hit .123 (51-30-171) as a team, including a -.025 (8-9-40) mark in the third set. The Wolfpack, meanwhile, hit .120 (58-35-192), but had seven more kills and one more service ace than the Badgers.
Four Badgers either set or tied career highs on Friday night. Junior Alexis Mitchell tied her career high in blocks, finishing with nine. She led Wisconsin in both block solos (four) and block assists (five).
Freshmen Ellen Chapman and Crystal Graff set career highs in kills, chipping in 10 and 15, respectively. Graff also finished with 12 digs for her second double-double of the season.
Sophomore Annemarie Hickey led all players in digs with 33, which is tied for fifth on Wisconsin’s all-time match record list.
14 of the 16 Badgers who saw playing time took part in all five sets Friday night. Chapman hit .226 (10-3-31) to lead Wisconsin, while sophomores Dominique Thompson (8-4-20) and Julie Mikaelsen (4-2-10) both hit .200.
As a team, the Badgers kept N.C. State below .100 in the first two sets, including a -.114 combined mark from the Wolfpack in set two. Wisconsin committed only four errors in the second set compared to N.C. State’s 11 to win 25-15. The Badgers also won the first set, 25-21.
The Wolfpack came back to force a fourth set by taking advantage of UW’s nine errors and committing only two of their own. Although Wisconsin had a run of its own, scoring four unanswered points to cut N.C. State’s lead to three, the Wolfpack put together a 6-0 run to win the third set 25-16.
After the Badgers scored three unanswered points at the end of the fourth set thanks to kills from Chapman and Mikaelsen, Mitchell and freshman Courtney Thomas combined on a block to tie the score at 24. Thomas blocked a second time to give the Badgers the lead, but N.C. State scored three unanswered points of its own to win the set, 27-25.
The fifth and final set was a nail-biter early on, as neither squad had a lead of two points or more until Nicole Glass scored and put the Wolfpack up 9-7. Prior to that, the fifth set featured six different ties. Graff scored to cut the lead to one, but then N.C. State used a 5-0 run to pull away. Wisconsin scored two straight points, but it wasn’t enough as the Wolfpack won its only set and match point.
The Badgers finish their portion of the N.C. State Courtyard Midtown Classic with a match against Western Carolina on Saturday at 9 a.m. CT.
Fans can follow the Gameday Blog at UWBadgers.com, Wisconsin Volleyball on Facebook or @BadgerVBall on Twitter.
| 
