COLUMBUS, Ohio-- The third-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team continued to roll through conference play Wednesday night, sweeping No. 22 Ohio State, 25-19, 26-24, 25-22, at St. John Arena.

Wisconsin's fourth-straight win puts the Badgers one game out of first place in the Big Ten Conference, improving to 19-3 overall and 11-2 in the Big Ten. The win also marked the Cardinal and White's 10th win of the season against a ranked team.

"I thought we were pretty good offensively," UW head coach Kelly Sheffield said. "I thought Lauren (Carlini) did a really good job of setting, she had some ridiculous, really nice sets. Taking blockers up with her, getting attackers really clean looks."

Carlini dished out 37 assists, helping the Badgers to a .307 hitting percentage (42-11-101). Junior Lauryn Gillis led the Badgers with 14 kills, while redshirt senior Romana Kriskova had her third match of the season in double-figure kills, slamming 12 kills with no errors on 22 attempts for a match-high .545 attack percentage. 

"Romana was again great," Sheffield said. "She's been really really good the past few weeks no matter who she's playing against, at home and on the road."

The Badger defense narrowly outblocked the Buckeyes 7-6, led by sophomore Tionna Williams with four stops. Carlini and senior Haleigh Nelson added three blocks apiece. Carlini notched 11 digs for her 69th career double-double, followed by freshman M.E. Dodge with 10 saves and junior Kelli Bates with six.

Both teams struggled at the service line, as UW committed 12 service errors while the Buckeyes (15-10, 5-8 Big Ten) had 10.

"That's a lot of service errors, 12 service errors on us, but we had them out of system all the time. You don't like a lot of service errors, you certainly don't like them in the net. But you can't sit there and praise your team when their setter is running all over the place and then rip them when they're having some service errors as well. I thought that was a big key of the match.

"I thought defensively we probably got a little bit better at the end, I thought the back court we probably could have been a little bit better than what we were."

In set one the Buckeyes took an 11-6 lead on four unanswered points, but the Badgers battled back to take a 21-17 lead, forcing an OSU timeout. After fighting through the set, Wisconsin closed its last four points out with ease on kills from Kriskova, Williams and Bates for the 25-19 set win.

In similar fashion, the Buckeyes forced 13 tie points and four lead changes in the second set, but the Badgers pulled away late to take the 2-0 set lead in extra points, 26-24. Ohio State tied the set 23-23, prompting Wisconsin to use a timeout to regroup. A double touch by the Buckeyes gave the Badgers a 24-23 advantage, but OSU's Audra Appold tied the score back up at 24 each. Nelson hit a kill on the slide to put the Badgers back on top, following up with a block alongside Kriskova to secure the set victory.

Ohio State started the third set with an advantage, but the Badgers never fell more than two points behind. Wisconsin won a challenge to tie the frame, 11-11, which would prove to be the turning point in the set. The Badgers won 10 of the next 19 points to narrowly lead 21-20, then pulled away to finish off the sweep, 25-22, on a Nelson and Kriskova block.

"This is a tough place to play," Sheffield said. "These guys average about two losses a year at home in the Big Ten. They're awfully good here, and we hit .300, I thought that was good."

The Badgers continue conference play on Saturday, hosting Purdue at the UW Field House. The sold out match begins at 7 p.m.