Box Score | Quotes | Box Score 
Wisconin 3, Drake 0
UW Field House • Madison, Wis. | |
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| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Drake
| 17 | 17 | 19 | -- | -- | Wisconsin
| 25 | 25 | 25 | -- | -- | | | | Stats Leaders
| | Drake | | Wisconsin | | Mancini - 9 | Kills | Mikaelsen - 10 | | Brown/Meyer - 12 | Assists | Thomas - 29 | | Mancini - .368 | Hit %
| Mikaelsen - .588 | | Tramosljanin - 10 | Digs | Hickey - 11 | | Dulek - 2 | Blocks | Ording - 5 | | Tramosljanin - 3 | Aces | Chapman - 3 | | Stats Comparison
| Drake | Wisc. | | Kills | 28 | 34 | | Hitting Pct. | .104 | .305 | | Assists | 25 | 33 | | Service Aces | 5 | 7 | | Digs | 32 | 42 | | Total Blocks | 3 | 7 | | |
MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin volleyball team (6-1) opened up play at the InnTowner Invitational with a 3-0 sweep over Drake University (0-7) at the UW Field House Friday night, 25-17, 25-17, 25-19.
The Badgers fell behind early in every set before fighting back. Wisconsin found itself trailing the Bulldogs 11-10 in the first set before putting together a 5-0 run to take a 15-11 lead. The run was keyed by the play of Ellen Chapman, who contributed three kills and combined with Mary Ording for a block. Chapman finished with five kills in the first set and added two service aces.
Wisconsin served for set point at 24-14 but the Bulldogs held off three points before senior middle blocker Alexis Mitchell put the set away with a kill.
| Fast Facts | | • Ellen Chapman set a new career-high with three service aces | | • The match featured 19 tied scores and eight lead changes | | • Courtney Thomas grabbed her thrid-straight double-double, with 29 assists and 10 digs. | |
The second set featured eight ties early and Wisconsin found itself down 16-14 before sophomore Courtney Thomas served four straight to take a 19-16 lead. The Badgers closed the game, taking seven of the last eight points.
This time it was junior right-side hitter Julie Mikaelsen providing the power for Wisconsin, putting away four kills in the set. Junior libero Annemarie Hickey had five digs for the Badgers, who out-hit the Bulldogs .304 to negative .032.
The Badgers and Bulldogs traded points early in the third set and sat tied at 9-9 before a Drake service error put Wisconsin up 10-9 and the Badgers never looked back. UW took a 19-14 lead but the Bulldogs cut the lead to three several times, including at 20-17. Drake errors cost it the match, including a ball-handling error that gave Wisconsin match point.
"I'm happy with our start," head coach Pete Waite said. "I think in each of the games, we were really slow out of the gate but I think that there might be a little first-time-at-home jitters. Sometimes that happens when they're playing a little over excited (and) not at the level they want to be."
Mikaelsen finished the night with 10 kills, while Chapman compiled nine. Chapman also finished with a career-high three service aces. Wisconsin finished with a season-high seven aces.
"I think the defense did really well at getting the passes for the sets and Courtney was pushing the ball out so we could try and hit line marks and the line was open," Chapman said. "I've just been practicing my serve a lot in practice so I think it's gotten a little bit better this year."
Sophomore outside hitter Courtney Thomas saw her third-straight double-double Friday with 29 assists and 10 digs. Annemarie Hickey finished with 11 digs, extending her streak of matches with 10-or-more digs to 11.
As a team, the Badgers out-hit Drake .305 (34 kills, nine errors, 82 attempts) to .104 (28-18-96) and out-blocked the Bulldogs 7-3. Ording led all players with six blocks, including two solos.
The victory is Wisconsin's fourth sweep on the season and fifth win in a row. The Badgers face North Dakota State at the Field House tomorrow at noon before wrapping up invitational play against Milwaukee at 7 p.m.
