Wisconsin Badgers
Ohio State
Thriller in the 'Ville
December 12, 2014 | Volleyball
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| Dec. 12, 2014
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- It was a narrow, nail-biting triumph that kept the Wisconsin volleyball team's post-season run alive Friday night. The fourth-seeded Badgers rallied from a 2-1 deficit to top a resilient Ohio State squad 25-20, 21-25, 22-25, 26-24, 15-12 in the NCAA Louisville Regional semifinals at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
Wisconsin (31-2) advances to the NCAA Elite Eight and will face Penn State on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT from the Yum! Center. Regional winners advance to the NCAA Championship in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Dec. 18 and 20.
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"This wasn't a thing of great beauty when you look at the numbers," head coach Kelly Sheffield said. "It was a struggle for us all night long, a real, real struggle but we just stayed with it. We just battled and we just stayed with it. If you do that then you give yourself a chance."
It was a defensive battle as the two teams combined for 34.5 blocks and 172 digs.
UW outblocked the Buckeyes 18.5 - 16 behind a career-high 11 blocks from senior Dominique Thompson. Senior Courtney Thomas added a career-best seven blocks while sophomore Haleigh Nelson also had seven blocks.
The Buckeyes (23-12) had five players tally double-figure digs as they finished with a 93-79 advantage in the backcourt. Junior Taylor Morey led Wisconsin with 21 digs while sophomore Lauren Carlini and freshman Kelli Bates both added 17 saves.
Due to the tough defense, neither team hit well as Wisconsin connected on just .130 percent (52 kills -28 errors -184 attempts) of its attacks. Thomas with a team-best 13 kills. Senior Ellen Chapman and Bates, who had a double-double, each contributed 12 kills.
"It was a real struggle, we were having tough time scoring," Sheffield added. "We were having a tough time slowing some of those things down."
Ohio State's Erin Sekinger and Taylor Sandbothe led all players with 17 kills apiece, helping OSU to a .128 (64-40-188) overall attack percentage.
Wisconsin scored on six service aces, including a career-high three from senior Kt Kvas. Ohio State had three aces and both teams recorded 11 service errors.
"Just embrace this, it is what we were kind of saying at the very end of game four and end of game five," Sheffield said. "This is, trust me, this will feel like one of the greatest wins of your entire career. Just stay together and it's going to feel unbelievable afterwards."
Wisconsin controlled most of the first set, leading by as many as five points (12-7) before Ohio State cut the lead to one at 15-14. The Badgers went up 20-16 on two straight OSU errors but the Buckeyes again cut the lead to one (21-20) off a UW hitting error. Two Badger blocks and kills by Thomas and Nelson keyed a 4-0 run and the UW win.
UW hit .100 while OSU had a 0.59 attack clip. Both teams did well on the block, as the Badgers outblocked the Buckeyes 6-4.
Ohio State swung the momentum early in the second set, taking an 8-3 lead and upping its advantage to 16-8. Trailing 18-10, Wisconsin went on a 9-1 run to knot the score at 19. The set was also tied at 20 before the Buckeyes went on a 4-0 run to serve for set point at 24-20. An OSU service error give UW a point but a kill by Sekinger tied the match 1-1.
Chapman tallied five of her 12 putaways in the second set as UW hit .273, while OSU hit .333.
Wisconsin rallied from a 21-17 deficit in the third set, going on a 4-0 run to tie the score at 21. The set was also tied at 22 before Ohio State scored three straight to take a 2-1 lead.
UW had 13 kills compared to OSU's nine in the third, but the Buckeyes outblocked the Badgers 6-1.
It was a late charge by the Badgers in the fourth set as they broke a 16-16 tie with four straight to take a 20-16 lead. The Buckeyes came back to tie the score at 23 before a kill by Thomas give Wisconsin set point at 24-23. Ohio State tied the score at 24 but a block by Thomas and Thompson followed by an ace from Thomas evened the match at 2-2.
Wisconsin's block came to life in the fourth, as UW outblocked OSU 8.5-1, and forced 15 Ohio State attack errors.
Consistent blocking and attacking efforts on both sides of the net made for an even start to the fifth set. With the score balanced at 10-10, back-to-back OSU attack errors followed by a Badger block gave Wisconsin a 13-10 advantage. A Thomas kill made it match point at 14-11 but a Sekinger kill made it 14-12. A touch call on a kill by Chapman gave UW the match with a 15-12 fifth-set triumph.
The Badgers improve to 37-17 in the NCAA tournament, including a 7-5 record in the Sweet 16.
