Box Score

AMES, Iowa – The 11th-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team is heading to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament after sweeping No. 22 Iowa State, 25-22, 25-20, 25-23, at Hilton Coliseum Saturday night.
 
Freshmen Dana Rettke and Grace Loberg paced the UW offense with 15 and 13 kills, respectively. Rettke had nine kills in the third set alone.
 
Wisconsin (22-9) hit .317 (51 kills – 13 errors – 120 attempts) while holding Iowa State (22-7) to .231 (43-15-121).
 
Kelli Bates tore it up in the backcourt, collecting 17 digs. Tiffany Clark and Lauryn Gillis also earned double-digit digs with 13 and 10 saves, respectively.
 
At the service line, four Badgers earned an ace as UW collected four aces to ISU's two.
 
Iowa State out blocked the Badgers, 7-6. Rettke had four stuffs to lead UW.
 

Notable

• The Badgers advance to their fifth straight NCAA Sweet 16 appearance.
• Wisconsin improves to 43-20 in its 21^st NCAA tournament and 14-4 under fifth-year head coach Kelly Sheffield.
• For the second straight night, freshman Grace Loberg recorded a career high in kills. After tallying a career-best 11 kills vs. Marquette on Friday night, the 6-3 outside hitter put away 13 kills tonight.
• Wisconsin improved to 17-0 this season when they hit above .300. UW hit .317 against the Cyclones.

 

Quotable

"I thought we played with courage. We played free. We set the tone with our serving. We served the ball aggressively. We were confident and put pressure on them and it started with our serving. Syd (Hilley) did a wonderful job running our offense. The matchups changed and Syd recognized what we were doing and what they wanted to do. It was constant pressure out there. I thought we stayed patient and that mindset and mentality is critical."
 
"Kelli Bates had some huge digs when the game was on the line. That's what seniors do. This was a good team effort. I thought our team played well tonight."
 
-Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
 

It was over when

After winning the first two sets, the Badgers were down by five points (10-5) early in the third set. With Tiffany Clark at the service line, UW went on a 5-0 run to take a 12-11 lead. A Clark ace highlighted the Wisconsin run as well as two kills apiece from Grace Loberg and Dana Rettke.
 
UW led 15-12 before Iowa State went on a 6-2 run to lead 18-17. The Cyclones were up 21-19 but kills from Loberg and Rettke tied the score at 21. ISU led at 22-21 before two more kills from Loberg gave the Badgers match point at 24-22. Iowa State held off one match point before a kill by Rettke gave Wisconsin the sweep.
 

Up next

The Badgers travel to Palo Alto, California, next weekend for the Stanford Regional. Wisconsin will face the No. 3 seed Cardinal on Friday in regional semifinal play.