Badgers’ season comes to a close at No. 3 Stanford

Friday, December 8

Palo Alto, CA

10 p.m.

Wisconsin Badgers

22-10

Stanford

29-3

Wisconsin

Stanford

Photo by: Jack McLaughlin

Badgers’ season comes to a close at No. 3 Stanford

December 09, 2017 | Volleyball

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Wisconsin falls to the Cardinal in Sweet 16

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STANFORD, Calif. – The 11th-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team could not slow down third-seeded Stanford, falling to the Cardinal in four sets, 22-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-19, at Maples Pavilion Friday night.

Wisconsin (22-10 overall) hit an amazing .593 (19 kills – 3 errors – 27 attempts) in the first set, claiming a 25-22 set win. Despite hitting .315 (55-16-124) for the match, the Badgers could not stall Stanford (29-3). The Cardinal hit .436 (62-11-117).

Freshman Grace Loberg led the Wisconsin offense with a career-high 20 kills. Fellow freshman Dana Rettke added 13 kills for UW.

In the back row, libero Tiffany Clark paced the Badgers with 13 digs. Defensive specialist M.E. Dodge added an additional 10 ups, helping Wisconsin to 36 digs overall. Stanford narrowly out dug the Badgers, earning 40 saves.

Setter Sydney Hilley notched 47 assists and two service aces in the season finale.

At the net, middle blockers Tionna Williams and Rettke collected two stuffs apiece. The Cardinal had a 10.5-3 blocking advantage.

Quotable

"A team was going to have to play really well to knock us out of the tournament. We certainly ran into a well-oiled machine tonight. I'm proud of our effort. I'm proud of the preparation. I'm proud of our fight. Hand it to Stanford; I thought they played an unbelievable match.

"I thought it was just two teams who were offensively playing at a very, very high level. You have almost 250 swings and only 27 errors between the two teams. It was just two teams delivering blows.

"I'm proud of the effort our kids gave tonight."

-Head Coach Kelly Sheffield

Notable

Freshman Grace Loberg recorded her third-straight career high for kills, leading the Badgers with 20 putaways. It was her third-straight match in double-figure kills.
Freshman Dana Rettke added 13 kills, her team-best 24th match this season in double figures.
Sophomore Tiffany Clark had a team-high 13 digs, her 19th time recording 10-or-more digs this season.
Senior Kelli Bates wraps up her career with 1,091 kills, which ranks 18th on the UW career list, and 1,368 digs, which ranks seventh on the career record list. She is just the sixth Badger to record more than 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career.
Senior Lauryn Gillis finishes her career with 1,052 kills, including 904 at Wisconsin.
The Badgers competed in their fifth-straight NCAA Sweet 16.
Wisconsin finishes the season 22-10, its fifth season in a row with 20-or-more wins.
UW falls to 44-21 in 21 NCAA tournament appearances. The Badgers are 15-5 under five-year head coach Kelly Sheffield.