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MADISON, Wis. – Freshman middle blocker Dana Rettke shined in her collegiate debut as a Badger, leading the No. 7 Wisconsin volleyball team to a sweep of Louisville, 25-18, 25-19, 26-24, during the first round of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in the UW Field House on Friday night.
 
The freshman duo of Rettke and setter Sydney Hilley showed no signs of nerves in their first match in a Badger uniform.
 
Rettke led all hitters with 15 kills while hitting .500 (15 kills -3 errors -24 attempts). Hilley added 36 assists, four kills, three digs and one block en route to setting the Wisconsin offense to a .320 hitting percentage (42-11-97).
 
Junior middle blocker Tionna Williams hit .467 (9-2-15) while adding two blocks and two digs, making the Badgers a force to be reckon with in the middle.
 
The middle blocking duo of Rettke and Williams helped the Badgers outblock the Cardinals 8-6 while holding their hitting percentage to .171 (39-21-105).
 
Even with three new starters in the lineup, the Badgers opened the match with a dominant first set. Wisconsin got out to 4-0 run, including a kill and solo block by Rettke. Another 6-0 run brought the score to 13-3, ultimately powering the Cardinal and Red to a 25-18 victory.
 
The second set started as a back and forth battle, but a dump by Hilley brought the score to 17-14 and gave the team the spark they needed to pull away and close out the set 25-19.
 
After flying out to a 10-3 lead in the third set, Louisville (0-1) clawed their way back into the match, evening the score to 17. Louisville stayed within striking distance until the Badgers went on a 3-0 run to earn match point at 24-22. Louisville extended the set to 24-24 before a hitting error and final kill by Madison Duello sealed the sweep. 
 

Quotables

Head coach Kelly Sheffield:
"We had a lot of people playing their first real match here. I thought the two people next to me (Sydney Hilley and Dana Rettke) did a really good job the entire match, I thought our team did. I thought we were poised and I thought we did a great job of bouncing back after errors.
 
"There in the third (set) when we fell behind, I thought we were just making plays and doing what we're supposed to do. I thought Syd did a fantastic job distributing and I thought Dana was very physical out there. We've seen that as we've gone through her few months here. Every week she's getting more and more physical.
 
"We saw quite a few things we need to get better at but for our first match of the season with the new young group, I thought we did a pretty good job."
 
On whether the team did what they wanted in regards to serving:
"We were talking about it quite a bit. I thought Syd started out the match blowing bubbles at them and she wasn't the only one. She served with a lot more precision as the match went on, I thought she got a lot more confident with her serve. A lot of our errors, we were trying to thread the needle a little bit and trying to do things we shouldn't.
 
Dana Rettke
 
On coming up big in the third set:
"I love those moments. I just know, that's go time. You've got to perform in those moments and it tests everybody and we pulled through."
 
Sydney Hilley
 
On playing a third set with big points:
"I think it was a good first test for us, since our team obviously hasn't had to go through that yet. We do a lot of talk at practice, 'This is winning time. This is crunch time.' We saw people step up and I thought that was really cool."
 
On how the experience compared to the expectation of playing in the Field House:
"I waited four years (from committing) to play my first game. People tell you how cool the atmosphere is, but you don't know until you actually play in it. That was the coolest thing I've ever done, play in front of that huge crowd, and I love it."
 

It was over when

After easily winning the first two sets, the Badgers had to battle back in the third set.
 
Wisconsin led 15-9 in the third period before Louisville went on an 8-2 run to knot the score at 17. The Cardinals took a 20-18 lead behind the play of Amanda Green but UW came back to tie it at 20. The Ville led 21-20 and 22-21 before freshman Dana Rettke took over. The middle blocker had two straight kills to give Wisconsin set point at 24-22. A Cardinals held off two set points with a kill and block to tie the set again, this time at 24. A Louisville hitting error followed by a kill from Madison Duello completed the sweep.
 

Notables

• The Badgers won their second-straight season opener and won their debut for the fourth time under fifth-year head coach Kelly Sheffield.
• Three Badgers earned their first start tonight. Freshmen Sydney Hilley and Dana Rettke as well as sophomore Sarah Dodd. Freshmen Riley Bell and Mariah Whalen saw their first action on the court as well.
• Redshirt sophomore Madison Duello recorded a career-high five blocks.
• Sophomore M.E. Dodge tied her career high with four assists.
   

Up Next

The Badgers wrap up play in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Saturday when they take on No. 11 North Carolina. The Tar Heels fell to No. 4 Minnesota, 3-0, on Friday in the opening match of the tournament. First serve is at 7 p.m. and the match is sold out.