HONOLULU – After traveling more than 4,000 miles and five time zones to Hawai'i for the Rainbow Wahine Invitational, the fourth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team made the trip worthwhile by winning the tournament title on Sunday afternoon.

The Badgers swept Kansas State 25-18, 25-15, 25-20 in the championship match of the tournament, improving to 3-0 on the year.

"I thought we were business-like," head coach Kelly Sheffield said of the match. "There was a confidence about them but it was about hard work. They were locked in. Every point was 'Here we go.' There wasn't a whole lot of too highs or too lows.

"We talked going into this, we've been here for a week and you're playing three matches against really good teams and every match is a shorter break. This was going to show the kind of work they've put in in the summer. Then afterwards, this is one of those matches that shows that we are mentally and physically strong."

One of the strongest players was freshman Molly Haggerty. After struggling Saturday night against Arizona, the 6-1 outside hitter "announced her presence with authority," according to Sheffield.

After hitting a negative .061 against Arizona on Saturday, Haggerty put on an offensive showcase against K-State (2-1) today. Haggerty had 14 kills on 23 attempts with no errors, hitting a career-high .609.

"She goes about things very, very differently attacking than what she did last night, without practice, without us sitting down and watching a bunch of film or anything else," Sheffield said of Haggerty. "You just talk to her and say, 'Out of system, let's not pull these balls down. Let's do what we've been working on in practice – go high hands when it's not there, mix in some off-speed shots,' and she just goes out and does it. It'd be nice if that happens all the time, you tell somebody something and they have the skill and ability to just go out and do it."

Junior Lauryn Gillis added 10 kills as the Badgers hit a season high .385 (50 kills – 10 errors – 104 attempts). Eight blocks and 50 digs held the Wildcats to just .152 (33-17-105).

Senior Haleigh Nelson added nine kills with a .571 hitting percentage and shared match-high honors with four blocks. Sophomore Tionna Williams added eight kills and also had four blocks.

"Haleigh Nelson is just turning into a beast," Sheffield exclaimed. "The work that she has put in with the strength coaches this summer is incredible. She's making some really athletic plays. She's turned into a really nice player."

Junior Kelli Bates recorded her third-straight double-figure digs match, leading all players with 12 digs. Senior Lauren Carlini picked up her second-straight double-double with 41 assists and 10 digs.

The Badgers jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first set behind three team blocks. Wisconsin held on to its six-point lead through 12-6 before the Wildcats went on a 5-1 run to cut it to 12-11. A 5-0 UW run put the Badgers back up 17-11 as K-State would never challenge.

In the second set, Wisconsin trailed 11-10 before Carlini served eight straight, keying an 8-0 run. UW upped its lead to 10 (23-13) before taking a 2-0 lead.

Trailing 7-4 in the third set, the Badgers put on an offensive clinic. Wisconsin tied the score at 7-7 and stayed even with the Wildcats through 14-14. The front-row play of Nelson and
Romana Kriskova gave UW an 18-14 lead, a lead K-State would not overcome. Wisconsin hit .429 (20-5-35) in the third set behind a near-perfect 5-for-6 performance by Haggerty in kills.

"I thought our ball control for three matches might have been as good of a three-match stretch since we've been (at Wisconsin)," said Sheffield. "Gilly, Kelli and Molly handled the serve receive really, really well the entire week."

Wisconsin opens its home season next weekend with the HotelRED Invitational. The Badgers take on San Diego on Friday at 7 p.m. in the UW Field House.