MADISON, Wis. -- Behind a balanced attack and a scrappy defense, the No. 10 Wisconsin volleyball team swept Rutgers 25-20, 25-15, 25-10 to pick up its 11th-straight win on Wednesday night in the UW Field House.
 
The Badgers (23-6, 15-4 Big Ten) displayed their strength in all areas of the court by hitting .330 (42 kills - 12 total errors - 91 total attempts) and holding Rutgers (4-27, 1-18 Big Ten) to just .064 (23-17-94).
 
"There were some positives here and some things we probably weren't real crisp on," UW Head Coach Kelly Sheffield said. "We got better as we went along so that was certainly good to see."
 
On defense, UW outblocked Rutgers 8-6 and outdug it 47-31. Senior Taylor Morey guided the backcourt with 13 digs and junior Lauren Carlini passed the 1,000 career dig mark by adding nine saves.
 
"The energy in the Field House was high," Morey said. "We were struggling to find a rhythm at the beginning of the match and kind of throughout, but I felt like the intensity was good on the floor. It was just a matter of executing."
 
At the net, freshman Tionna Williams recorded five blocks followed by Carlini with four and junior Haleigh Nelson with three.
 
Sophomore Lauryn Gillis paced the Badger attack with a match-high 11 kills while Nelson and sophomore Kelli Bates each added seven putaways.
 
With a slow start, the Badgers couldn't pull away from the Scarlet Knights to start the match. Wisconsin led by as many as five points (10-5) but Rutgers cut the lead to 15-12. Kills by Gillis and Williams put UW up 17-13 but the scrappy Rutgers defense cut the UW lead to 20-18. Another Gillis swing curbed the rising Rutgers momentum and a kill from Carlini brought set point at 24-19. A swing by Megan Stephenson staved off the first set point for the Scarlet Knights before Gillis retaliated with her sixth kill of the set to give the Badgers a one set advantage.
 
Wisconsin raced to an 8-3 lead to start the second set as strong hitting kept the Scarlet Knights at bay. UW grabbed its largest lead of the set at 20-10 as six different Badgers tallied kills for the balanced UW attack. After a kill by junior Tori Blake brought the score to 22-12, the Scarlet Knights had a 3-0 run to cut the lead to 22-13. Blake fired off another kill to snap the streak and an ensuing Carlini kill brought set point at 24-15. To put UW up 2-0, Nelson and freshman Julia Saunders combined for the block and the Badgers headed to the locker room.
 
The Badgers continued to roll in the third set. After a Gillis swing brought it to 9-4, Wisconsin piled it on with a 3-0 run that included a service ace by freshman Madison Duello to force a Rutgers' timeout. A 5-1 UW run forced yet another Scarlet Knight timeout. Morey served six straight points, including three service aces, to put UW up 20-6. Morey finished with four aces in the match, setting a new career high.  Two Badger blocks made it 24-10 before Williams put away the final kill of the match to complete the sweep.
 
Up next, the Badgers travel to No. 14 Purdue for the Big Ten finale at 3 p.m. CT) on Saturday.
 
The 64-team bracket for the 2015 NCAA Tournament will be announced on Sunday at 8 p.m., live on ESPNU.