 | | |  | 6 Wisconsin 3, 16 Illinois 1
Huff Hall • Champaign, Ill. • Attendance: 4,536
Box Score | Box Score  |  | |
| | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Wisconsin
| 25 | 25 | 11 | 25 | -- | Illinois
| 17 | 22 | 25 | 23 | -- | | Stats Leaders
| | WIS | | ILL | | Thompson - 14 | Kills | Birks - 22 | | Carlini - 42 | Assists | Viliunas - 22 | | Carlini - .583 | Hit %
| Birks - .340 | | Morey - 19 | Digs | Donnelly - 19 | | Thompson - 6 | Blocks | Dorn - 6 | | Carlini - 2 | Aces | Donnelly - 2 | | Stats Comparison
| WIS | ILL | | Kills | 54 | 52 | | Hitting Pct. | .197 | .212 | | Assists | 48 | 50 | | Service Aces | 5 | 3 | | Digs | 71 | 68 | | Total Blocks | 11 | 14 | | |
Oct. 4, 2014
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The No. 6-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team overcame a tough opponent in an even tougher atmosphere Saturday night as the Badgers (12-2, 3-1) defeated No. 16 Illinois 25-17, 25-22, 11-25, 25-23 in front of a sell-out crowd at Huff Hall.
“This is a team capable of knocking off anybody,” UW head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “This was two teams fighting like crazy. Even if we would have lost this match, it's still a match where both teams left it out there. At the end of the day, that's just what you’re hoping, giving it all you got. Tonight we were able to come up with a huge road win.”
| Fast Facts | | • Teams played in front of sell-out crowd of 4,536 fans | | • Three UW players record double figure digs, led by junior Taylor Morey with 19 | | • Wisconsin improves to 12-2, 3-1 on the season | |
The Badgers downed the Illini (11-4, 3-1) despite hitting .197 (54 kills – 24 errors – 152 attempts) as a team compared to .212 (52-20-151) by IU. Senior Dominique Thompson led the UW offense with 14 kills while senior Courtney Thomas and freshman Kelli Bates chipped in 10 and nine kills, respectively.
Wisconsin outdug IU 71-68 as the Badgers had three players mark double-figure digs. Junior Taylor Morey tallied a team-best 19 digs, followed by Thomas and sophomore Lauren Carlini with 13 apiece. Carlini also put up 42 assists to record her eighth double double of the season.
Thompson also led the team in blocks, stopping six IU attacks while Thomas, Bates and sophomore Haleigh Nelson each added five. The Illini outblocked UW 14-11.
The Illini represent the highest ranked team Wisconsin has beat on the road since 2009, when the Badgers downed No. 13 Michigan on Oct. 30.
Nelson began the match with a service ace, giving the Badgers a lead they would hold on to for the entire first set. Carlini followed an IU attack error with a kill to set up a 4-2 lead for Wisconsin. Two more UW kills and an IU error widened the UW advantage to 7-3.
Illinois continued to fight, keeping the Badgers to a three-point lead through the middle of the set as an IU kill brought the score to 15-12 in favor of UW. Bates and Carlini each responded with a kill to wide the advantage to five, but a UW attack error and an IU kill brought the score back to 18-15.
Some back-and-forth points ensued until the Badgers arrived at a 20-17 advantage. IU wouldn’t score another point, as four Illini errors and a rocket by Thompson put the Badgers on a 5-0 run to close the first set, 25-17.
Wisconsin hit .250 (13-5-32) in the first, while Illinois marked a .000 (9-9-38).
The second set began with a UW service error and an IU kill, but Bates quickly responded with two kills to knot the score at 2-2. The conference rivals alternated kills until Chapman sent two line-drives through the IU defense, carrying Wisconsin to an 8-5 advantage.
IU retaliated with a four-point run on two kills and two UW errors, tying the score at 9-9. The teams traded point after point, until an ace by Carlini and three put-aways by Thomas widened the Wisconsin lead to 19-15. IU wouldn’t go down without a fight, as the squad fought for four straight points to bring the Illini within two.
Thompson put down two kills to create a 24-22 set-point opportunity for UW. One was all it took, as Morey served an ace to award Wisconsin its second set, 25-22.
Thompson put away seven kills as Wisconsin improved its hitting percentage to .405 (19-2-42) in the second period. IU also upped its attack percentage, marking a .279 (15-3-43). Nelson put up two blocks as UW outblocked IU 2-1 in the set.
But the Illini refused to give in, battling back to a 25-11 win in the third set. With the score tied at 5-5, a kill by Morganne Criswell started an Illini push that would continue through the remainder of the set.
Four consecutive IU kills widened the Illini lead to 11-6 before two IU attack errors and two kills by Thomas put the Badgers on a 4-0 run of their own. IU responded with three points of its own before Thomas sent her third kill of the set to the floor, leaving Wisconsin trailing 14-11.
Thomas’ kill would be Wisconsin’s last of the set, as the Illini went on an 11-0 run to close the third set. A string of five straight attack errors by the Badgers was followed by an IU service ace to widen Illinois’ lead to 21-11. The Illini continued to push, putting down two more kill and another ace to set up a set point. A final kill awarded the Illini a 25-11 set victory.
Wisconsin struggled offensively in the third, recording a -.143 (4-8-28) hitting percentage. The Illini fired up defensively as well, outblocking UW 5-2 and recording 15 digs to the Badgers’ eight.
“Sometimes those things happen,” Sheffield said. “Last year we lost at our place 3-1. The game that we won, we beat them 25-11, the exact flip of this. Sometimes you have those games. What I told them was that I was really proud of the way they responded, not only in game four, but all of us had our moments where we had kind of a tough time but none of our players needed rescuing.”
The fourth set had the sell-out crowd at Huff Hall on its feet, as Wisconsin claimed the match with a nail-biting 25-23 triumph. Nelson began the set with an ace as kills by four different Badgers quickly pushed UW to a 7-4 lead early in the period.
Wisconsin continued to own the floor, capitalizing on three IU errors with three kills and a service ace to gain a confident 14-8 lead. The balanced Badger offense maintained a five-point spread until three UW attack errors left IU trailing 17-15. The teams took turns sending the ball to the floor, until back-to-back UW mistakes resulted in a 23-23 tied score.
The crowd turned up the volume but it didn’t phase the Badgers, as Chapman put up the final two kills necessary to award Wisconsin both the set and the match.
The Badgers put up two blocks and 22 digs in the final set, holding off an IU offense that hit .275 (13-2-40). Wisconsin tallied a .180 (18-9-50) hitting percentage despite five blocks by the Illini defense.
Wisconsin will continue its Big Ten play Friday as the Badgers face Rutgers in a 7 p.m. match-up at the UW Field House.
