 | | |  | 2 Wisconsin 3, Rutgers 1
College Avenue Gym • New Brunswick, N.J. • Attendance: 212
Box Score | Box Score  |  | |
| | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Wisconsin
| 22 | 25 | 25 | 25 | -- | Rutgers
| 25 | 13 | 11 | 13 | -- | | Stats Leaders
| | WIS | | RU | | Thomas - 21 | Kills | Andreassian - 8 | | Carlini - 30 | Assists | Sudbury - 17 | | Thomas - .559 | Hit %
| Andreassian, Frazier - .333 | | Morey - 17 | Digs | Schroeter, Lassa - 14 | | Chapman - 3 | Blocks | Cloyd - 6 | | Carlini, Juley - 2 | Aces | Komisarek - 2 | | Stats Comparison
| WIS | RU | | Kills | 64 | 35 | | Hitting Pct. | .354 | .146 | | Assists | 58 | 32 | | Service Aces | 7 | 2 | | Digs | 60 | 47 | | Total Blocks | 8 | 10 | | |
Nov. 26, 2014
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- One streak ends and another continues. With a 3-1 win at Rutgers Wednesday night, its 18th-straight victory, the second-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team (27-2, 18-1 Big Ten) clinched at least a share of the Big Ten title for the first time since 2001. It is the fifth conference crown in school history.
UW set a school record with its 18th Big Ten win while the Badgers’ 18th straight victory ties the school record for overall consecutive wins set in 1997. Wisconsin finished the season with a perfect 10-0 conference record on the road, the best mark in school history.
| Fast Facts | | • 18th straight conference win sets school record | | • Courtney Thomas tallies career-high 21 kills | | • UW finishes with 10-0 conference record on road | |
The Badgers have a chance to clinch the conference championship outright with a win over No. 19 Purdue on Friday at the UW Field House.
“I’m expecting a brawl,” UW head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “Both teams obviously want to play well going down the stretch, and I think that’s really important. We’re going to be fighting like crazy to try to win an outright championship and that’s important to us, and it looks like the Boilermakers are going to be fighting for their season. They win that match and they’re in the NCAA tournament.”
Despite dropping the first set, 22-25, UW bounced back to dominate the next three, 25-13, 25-11, 25-13. It was a record-setting night for senior Courtney Thomas, who led all players with a career-high 21 kills and a team-best .559 (21 kills -2 errors -34 attempts) attack percentage. Senior Dominique Thompson followed suit, also recording a career-high with 17 kills to help push UW to an impressive .354 (64-18-130) overall hitting percentage.
But even with the big numbers, the Badgers had to dig themselves out of hole after dropping the first set.
A 3-0 UW run propelled by a service ace by junior Erin Juley gave the Badgers an early 8-5 lead in the first set. But after some back-and-forth kills left the score knotted at 15-15, two Rutgers service aces and a pair of blocks helped push the Scarlet Knights (7-25, 0-19) on a 7-0 run that created a 23-17 lead.
Three quick kills by Thomas allowed the Badgers a small comeback but a UW ball-handling error soon after ended the set at 25-22 in favor of Rutgers. RU hit .233 (12-2-43) compared to UW’s .220 (18-7-50) attack percentage, and outblocked the Badgers 4-1 in the first set.
A new Badger lineup blasted to a 6-1 start in the second set, and a balanced Wisconsin showing at the net continued throughout the period.
A 3-0 streak on kills by three different Badgers extended the lead to 19-10 just before Thompson put away three rockets in four points to create a 23-12 advantage. Nelson capped the set at 25-13 to even the match at a set apiece.
UW’s hitting percentage soared to .500 (18-2-32) in the second, while RU’s also increased to .241 (10-3-29).
“One thing we did talk about in the locker room was that it’s a new match here,” Sheffield said. “That wasn’t a very pleasant locker room, they weren’t very happy with themselves and with each other, so we talked about how we shouldn’t get angry, we should get better. Put your energies into just getting better, let that go and let’s go.”
Sophomore Lauren Carlini began the third set with an ace, but two quick service errors later, UW was leading 3-2. The rest of the set belonged to the Badgers, as five different Badger hitters contributed kills in the middle of the period to bring a comfortable 17-8 UW advantage.
Thomas connected with sets from Carlini on three straight plays just before back-to-back Badger blocks and another Thompson smack set up a Badger set-point at 24-11. The Scarlet Knights sent their next hit out of bounds to give Wisconsin the 25-11 win.
Thompson tallied eight of her kills in the third, as Wisconsin hit .348 (12-4-23) as a team. Rutgers had more difficulty staying consistent, marking a negative .080 (5-7-25) attack percentage.
The Badgers dominated the net in similar fashion in the fourth set, taking a 15-6 lead on consistent hitting and blocking efforts. Senior Ellen Chapman aided the Badgers in a 3-0 run shortly after with a hard kill and an ace, and another line-drive by Thomas a point later set the score at 24-12.
Sophomore Haleigh Nelson drove home her eighth kill of the night to close the match at 25-13.
The Badgers wrap up the regular season Friday with a 7 p.m. match-up against Purdue at the UW Field House.
