MADISON, Wis. -- For the second time this season, the No. 3 Wisconsin volleyball team battled to the very end with Purdue, edging the Boilermakers in five sets. The Badgers won their fifth-consecutive Big Ten Conference match with a 25-22, 26-24, 22-25, 16-25, 15-10 victory at the UW Field House on Saturday.

Wisconsin (20-3 overall, 12-2 Big Ten) hit .209 through the match (67 kills - 27 errors - 191 attempts), fighting for the win despite being out blocked 16-10 and out dug 75-69. 

"It's a really good win," UW head coach Kelly Sheffield said. "I told the team that not a whole lot of things were going well for us there at the end of the third and the fourth (sets).

"That had to be really, really hard what they did, just digging down that deep and playing the way that they did when you're in a game five. That was a special performance there at the end. (I'm) really happy for them, it was tough to score points out there tonight, I can tell you that."

After dropping the first two sets, Purdue (15-10, 5-9 Big Ten) rallied to force the Badgers into a decisive fifth set. 

Wisconsin sped to an 8-3 advantage at the switch, scoring points on seven kills and a Boilermaker ball handling error. Purdue closed within three points (8-5) with back-to-back kills, but a 5-1 Wisconsin run proved to be the difference maker, giving the Badgers a 13-6 lead. Purdue scored four of the final six points, but kills from senior Haleigh Nelson and redshirt senior Romana Kriskova sealed the win, 15-10.

"We were able to come out and play and defend the way that we always should and the way we expect ourselves to all the time," Nelson said of the fifth set.

Freshman Molly Haggerty led the Wisconsin offense, putting away 24 kills, while Kriskova and Nelson each hit double-figure kills with 12 and 11, respectively.

Junior Kelli Bates saved a team-high 18 digs. Senior Lauren Carlini notched her 70th career double-double, dishing out 57 assists and adding 12 digs. Haggerty tabbed her fourth career double-double, saving 11 digs.

Sophomore Tionna Williams and Nelson each tallied five blocks, while junior Lauryn Gillis added three. The Badger defense recorded a season-high four solo blocks, three from Nelson and one from Williams, as well as not allowing an opponent ace for the third time this season.

UW had to battle through 14 tie points and six lead changes in set one, closing out the frame 25-22. The teams went nearly point-for-point all set, but the Badgers finally held onto a lead, 19-17, after a 4-0 run. The Boilermakers called a timeout after a kill from Williams put Wisconsin up 24-22, but the break wasn't enough to stop Gillis from putting away the final kill to take the 1-0 set lead.

The Badgers had to come from behind in set two, trailing Purdue for most of the set until finally breaking a 23-23 tie. The Boilermakers led by three points at 19-16, and while Wisconsin closed in several times, it failed to string together consecutive points. A kill from Carlini helped to right the ship, giving the Badgers a 24-23 lead. It took extra points, but a Purdue attack error and a kill from Nelson finished off Wisconsin set win, 26-24.

The battle continued into set three, where the Badgers took a narrow 18-16 lead at Purdue's first timeout. The Boilermakers responded with a 9-4 run, edging out the Badgers 25-22 and forcing a fourth frame.

Purdue hit a match-high .345 (15-5-29) in set four, out blocking the Badgers 4-1 and holding UW to .057 attack percentage (11-9-35). Purdue scored six unanswered points to take a 10-4 lead early in the set, which proved to be too great for Wisconsin to overcome despite Haggerty's seven kills in the fourth set alone. Purdue would win the period, 25-16, to force the fifth set.

"Even though we swept those wins in the first two sets," Nelson explained, "I wouldn't say we were super proud of how we were playing. We were finishing better than Purdue but they were definitely beating us in fight and it really showed in the third and fourth set. We really didn't have an answer for them, and it says a lot about our team that we were able to put those two sets behind us and perform in the fifth set the way that we did.

"That's the team that we want to be every time we step on the floor and it was really difficult, definitely to bounce back, but we did it together and I think that we will really learn from that and we will come out a lot better next time right away."

The Badgers take to the road next weekend, traveling to Illinois and Northwestern for matches on Friday and Saturday, respectively.