| | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Wstrn Michigan
| 9 | 24 | 10 | -- | -- | Wisconsin
| 25 | 26 | 25 | -- | -- | | Stats Leaders
| | WMU | | WIS | | Gossen - 10 | Kills | Nelson, Chapman - 11 | | Pawlik - 23 | Assists | Carlini - 33 | | Gossen - .333 | Hit %
| Nelson - .476 | | Rose - 14 | Digs | Carlini - 20 | | LeMay - 3 | Blocks | Nelson - 7 | | Kofie, Baznik, Rose - 1 | Aces | Carlini - 2 | | Stats Comparison
| WMU | WIS | | Kills | 28 | 46 | | Hitting Pct. | .053 | .327 | | Assists | 27 | 42 | | Service Aces | 3 | 3 | | Digs | 48 | 56 | | Total Blocks | 4 | 9 | | |
NCAA Tournament Central | NCAA Bracket (PDF)
Dec. 4, 2014
MADISON, Wis. -- It was a Badger stampede as the fourth-seeded Wisconsin volleyball team sent Western Michigan home in a hurry Thursday night in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament. UW swept the Broncos 25-9, 26-24, 25-10 to advance to the second round of post-season play. The Badgers face Illinois State, a 3-2 winner over Marquette, on Friday at 7 p.m. in the UW Field House.
The win marks 20 straight for Wisconsin, a new program record, and moves the Badgers to 29-2 on the season.
| Fast Facts | | • Wisconsin marks 20th straight win, setting new school record | | • UW hits over .300 for 17th time this season | | • Haleigh Nelson and Ellen Chapman lead all players with 11 kills | |
Senior Ellen Chapman and sophomore Haleigh Nelson led all players with 11 kills, helping Wisconsin record a .327 (46 kills – 9 errors – 113 attempts) hitting percentage overall. It marked the 17th time this season UW has hit better than .300.
The Badgers outdug the Broncos 56-48, led by sophomore Lauren Carlini with 20 digs to tie her career-high. Junior Taylor Morey added 11 saves.
Carlini also put up 33 assists to tally her 15th double-double of the season.
UW also held the net on the defensive end, outblocking WMU 9-4, including six stuffs in the third set. Nelson had a match-high seven blocks.
The Badgers held the Broncos to a .053 (28-22-114) overall attack percentage. Ali Gossen put away 10 kills for the WMU.
Wisconsin came out on fire, beginning the first set with an 8-0 run fueled by two service aces from Carlini. The Broncos scored two straight but a 5-0 UW streak put the Badgers up 13-2. A service error and back-to-back hitting mistakes left Western trailing 22-8 before kills from Courtney Thomas and Chapman gave the Badgers set point at 24-9. WMU smacked a shot out-of-bounds to award Wisconsin the 25-9 win.
Wisconsin hit a tough .467 percent (15-1-30) in the first set behind Thomas with five kills, and held Western to a .000 (6-6-30) attack percentage. Each team put up one block.
Western Michigan put up a tough fight in the second set, as a 4-0 WMU streak pushed the Broncos to an early 10-8 advantage. Western led 18-15 before a 5-2 Badger run evened the score at 20. The Badgers led 23-21 and served for set point at 24-23 before a kill by Sydney LeMay evened the score at 24. A kill by Dominique Thompson brought the fans to their feet before a Bronco attack error gave UW the win.
Western’s hitting percentage rose to .262 (18-7-42) in the second, while UW’s dropped slightly to .316 (17-5-38). The Broncos outblocked the Badgers 3-2, and each squad made 15 saves.
Wisconsin cruised to a 6-1 lead in the third set, with freshman Kelli Bates and Nelson combining for two big blocks in the effort. Nelson put away three kills in the next six points to up UW’s advantage to 9-4.
And the Badgers kept the momentum rolling, rallying six straight points on four kills, an ace and a stuff to extend their lead to 20-7. Two more Badger blocks were followed by another hard put-away from Nelson to set the score at 24-10. One more point was all it took as Chapman earned the 25-10 for UW with a match-winning line-drive.
The Broncos’ attack percentage dropped to negative .119 (4-9-42) as the Badgers outblocked WMU 6-0 in the final set.
