Box Score
| | | |  | 13 Wisconsin 3, Louisville 1
ACC/Big Ten Challenge
KFC Yum! Center • Louisville, Ky. • Attendance: 2,861 Box Score | Box Score  |  | | 
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| Â | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Â Wisconsin
| 25 | 17 | 25 | 25 | -- | Â Louisville
| 19 | 25 | 21 | 19 | -- | | Â Stats Leaders
| | WIS | Â | LOUISVILLE | | Bates - 16 | Kills | Fairs - 16 | | Carlini - 47 | Assists | George - 44 | | Kriskova - .333 | Hit %
| Clark - .294 | | Morey - 19 | Digs | McVey - 15 | | Williams - 6 | Blocks | Clark - 5 | | Morey, MacDonald - 1 | Â Aces | Sauer- 3 | | Â Stats Comparison
| WIS | LOU | | Â Kills | 58 | 49 | | Â Hitting Pct. | .240 | .178 | | Â Assists | 56 | 47 | | Â Service Aces | 2 | 5 | | Â Digs | 67 | 61 | | Â Total Blocks | 10 | 8 | | |
Sept, 5, 2015Â
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The No. 13 Wisconsin volleyball team picked up its fourth straight win by downing Louisville 25-19, 17-25, 25-21, 25-19 on Saturday night at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.Â
The Badgers finished 2-0 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and improved to 4-1 on the season with the hard-fought victory.
"There are so many ebbs and flows in this game, the momentum is back and forth," UW head coach Kelly Sheffield said. "It shows a lot of maturity to be able to stay in there."
|  Fast Facts | | • Third double-double of the season for Bates, just one short of career high for kills | | •Four players were in double figure digs as the Badgers set a season high 67 saves | | •Williams set a new career high with 9 kills and tied career high with 6 blocks | |
Wisconsin hit .240 (58 kills - 22 errors - 150 total attempts) behind a balanced attack, while Louisville hit .178 (49-22-152).
"A huge emphasis this week went into being more mentally tough," sophomore Kelli Bates said. "We knew Louisville was a great team and we knew they were going to bounce back fast, so our focus was to just be able to rebalance and find the heart within ourselves to battle back like we normally do."
Louisville raced to a 6-2 lead to start the match, but a kill by sophomore Lauryn Gillis snapped the Cardinals' streak. The Badgers found themselves down by five in the middle of the set, but a 4-0 streak and improved passing on the UW side tied it at 11.
Wisconsin finally grabbed the lead at 15-14 thanks to a kill by freshman Tionna Williams, and two straight kills by Gillis forced a Cardinal timeout. The timeout didn't tame the Badgers as a 5-2 Badger run forced yet another Louisville timeout at 22-16. To end the set, a UW service error and Cardinal kill extended set point, but redshirt junior Romana Kriskova notched a kill to finish it off. Despite the slow start, the Badgers hit an impressive .432 in the first set.
To start the second set, the Badgers managed to tie it at 6, but a 6-1 Louisville run forced a Wisconsin timeout. A strong Louisville offense led by senior Erin Fairs sparked a 5-2 run to force another Wisconsin timeout. After being down by 11, the mounting Badger comeback could not fully shut down the powerful Cardinal attack, and a service error sealed the Cardinal set victory.
Junior Haleigh Nelson started the third set with a kill, but neither team managed to grab a significant lead thanks to numerous errors on both sides. After tying it at 11, the Badgers went on a 3-0 run thanks to back-to-back kills by Williams and an additional kill by junior Lauren Carlini. The Cardinals didn't back down and tied it again at 18 after alternating 3-0 runs. Two kills by Nelson and Kriskova then put the Badgers up, 22-19. Despite never trailing in the set, the Badgers closed the tight set in demanding fashion by going on a 5-1 run with a finishing kill by Carlini.
The Cardinals wouldn't go down without a fight to start the fourth set, stealing a 7-1 lead before a 6-0 Badger run tied it up. After tying it up two more times, Louisville called a timeout while down 14-11, but the Badgers held on to extend the run to 5-0 behind improved serving. Despite hints of a more polished Cardinal defense, the Badgers closed out the set after four match points followed by a final Williams kill to give Wisconsin the win. Â
Bates registered her third double-double of the season with 16 kills and 12 digs. Gillis tallied 12 kills, followed by Kriskova with 10. Williams also set a new career high with nine kills.
Once again, Carlini guided the Badger offense with 47 assists and three kills. Carlini also recorded her first double-double of the year by adding 12 digs.
Wisconsin out-blocked Louisville, 10-8, behind Williams' six blocks. The Badgers put up a season-high 67 digs behind four players in double figures, and senior Taylor Morey led with a match-high 19 digs.
"We knew Louisville was a huge scrappy team, so we really wanted to out-defend them just for the sake of ourselves," Bates said. "Right off the bat, we all came out scrapping, digging a lot of balls and just having your back for your teammates."
Wisconsin returns to action to face Georgia and Kent State in the Badger Classic on Sept. 10 and 11 at the UW Field House.
