Box Score
MADISON, Wis. – Despite dropping the first set, the fifth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team came out victorious in a hard-fought, four-set match on Thursday night in the UW Field House. The Badgers (8-0) rallied to take down in-state rival Marquette, 19-25, 25-13, 25-21, 26-24, in first match of the Badger Classic.
 
Senior outside hitter Kelli Bates carried the team offensively with a team-high 17 kills while adding 10 digs to earn her second double-double of the season and the 24th of her career. The Bradley, Illinois, native also had two assists and two blocks.
 
The Badgers won the defensive battle, out-blocking the Golden Eagles 13-10 and digging up 60 balls to Marquette's 56. Sophomore libero M.E. Dodge had a career-high 21 digs for UW.
 
Senior Lauryn Gillis started her first match of the season after missing five matches with an ankle injury. The 6-1 outside hitter collected 12 kills, two blocks, two digs and an assist.
 
Wisconsin hit .254 in the match and held Marquette (5-5) to a .159 hitting percentage. The Badgers have out-hit their opponents in every match this season.
 

Quotable

"That's a really good team we played. They present a lot of challenges, and I think these two (Kelli Bates and Lauryn Gillis) were really big for us tonight. They're our seniors and that's what you do in big matches. I think our young kids played a little young tonight and I think these two carried us tonight.
 
"I thought Kelli, especially offensively, was fantastic all night and her passing got better as the match went on. (Gilly) was getting her first start, and I thought that she started playing really, really well the last three sets and hit a lot of high hands.
 
"Neither of them forced it too much, having a low error night for both of them, and just going up there with confidence and taking good swings. They did what seniors are supposed to do."
 
-Head coach Kelly Sheffield
 
"Marquette was a gritty team to test ourselves, and to test how we can battle back and punch back from things. We knew that Marquette was really talented and how they had a couple of hitters just like a lot of the teams in the Big Ten. They were some tough sets, and Marquette brought it.  I knew we were going to battle back, and I knew we weren't going to stop fighting, but Marquette was a great team for us to test ourselves and see how we can pace up our speed."
 
- Kelli Bates
 

Notables

• The Badgers sixth-longest program set winning streak ended tonight at 21 games.
• Sarah Dodd recorded a career-high three service aces.
• Setter Sydney Hilley had a career-high five kills.
• In her first career start, freshman middle blocker Nicole Shanahan had a career-high six blocks and two kills.
• Sophomore libero M.E. Dodge had a career-high 21 digs.
• Leading the team with a career-high seven blocks was freshman Dana Rettke.
• Kelli Bates earned her second double-double of the season and the 24th of her career with a season-high 17 kills while adding 10 digs.
• Redshirt sophomore Madison Duello set two career highs with four digs and 26 attack attempts.

 

It was over when

The fourth set of the match proved to be the deciding factor. It was a rigorous, back-and-forth battle with 10 ties and four lead changes early on.
 
The Badgers were up 22-19 when the Golden Eagles surged back to make it a one-point game (22-21). A kill by Bates was countered with a kill by Marquette's Allie Barber before a Golden Eagles' service ace tied the match at 23. Another kill by Bates gave the Badgers their first match point at 24-23, but Barber kept Marquette in it with a kill of her own to tie the match at 24 apiece.
 
Wisconsin's senior leadership took charge as Bates and Gillis combined for back-to-back kills to win the match at 26-24.
 

Up next

The Badger Classic continues tomorrow as Marquette takes on Southern Miss at 6 p.m. Admission to the match is free. The Badgers wrap up the tournament on Saturday, hosting Southern Miss at 7 p.m.