Late rally not enough to overcome Spartans

Friday, September 22

UW Field House

7 p.m.

Wisconsin Badgers

9-1, 0-1

Michigan State

8-2, 1-0

Michigan State

Wisconsin

Photo by: Greg Anderson

Late rally not enough to overcome Spartans

September 22, 2017 | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery vs. Michigan State PDF Box Score vs. Michigan State

Badgers drop Big Ten opener

Box Score

MADISON, Wis. — Despite a valiant comeback in the final minutes of the match, the fifth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team dropped a five-set thriller to visiting Michigan State. UW's first loss of the season came from a 14-25, 25-18, 25-22, 22-25, 15-13 Big Ten opener at the UW Field House Friday night.

UW (9-1 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) had a slight advantage on offense, outhitting MSU (8-2, 1-0) .202 (60 kills – 24 errors – 178 attempts) to .182 (63-28-192). Setter Sydney Hilley put up a career-high 51 assists while adding nine digs, four blocks, a kill and an ace.

Senior Kelli Bates earned her third double-double of the season and the 25th of her career with 14 kills and 12 digs. Freshman Dana Rettke put away a team-high 19 kills while sharing team-high honors with five blocks.

On defense, the Badgers earned the edge in digs, 84-80. In her first match at libero for Wisconsin, sophomore Tiffany Clark earned a career-high 25 digs. ME Dodge added 14 digs.

MSU out-blocked the Badgers 13-11, but the Badgers put up six aces to Michigan State's four.

Quotable

"I thought it was two really, really good teams battling. I thought Michigan State showed a little bit of experience there coming out of the gate in the fifth set, but I loved our team's fight throughout.

"Those are things to build upon. There are a lot of things that we need to get better at, we knew that win or lose. We knew that we were going to have to get better. Those were two teams that are battling and we're going to have to find a way to get over this match quickly because we have another really good team here in about 36 hours."
- Head coach Kelly Sheffield

"It's adversity. Those games to me are really fun because you can learn a lot about each other in those moments. I really enjoy those games. And obviously, that's not the result we want, but this is going to be a huge loss for us, and luckily we get another shot at them in a few weeks, so we'll be able to show the adjustments we've made. That's the Big Ten—battles like that happen every single night. I know that, and it's my job as a leader and a senior to make sure that it's okay when these things happen, but we need to learn and get better for it going forward."
- Senior Kelli Bates

Notables

Sophomore Tiffany Clark dug out a career-high 25 balls in her first start at libero.
Wisconsin's nine-match winning streak, which tied for the fourth-best opening in program history, came to an end.
Middle blocker Dana Rettke had a career-high 19 kills, 24 points and 34 attempts.
The Badgers hit a season-low .202 (60-24-178).
Outside hitter Kelli Bates earned her 25th career double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs.
UW was outblocked for just the second time this season as the Spartans finished with a 13-11 edge.
Freshman Sydney Hilley dealt out a career-high 51 assists.

It was over when

After falling behind 2-1, the Badgers won the fourth set to force a fifth game. UW could not carry its momentum into the final frame as MSU jumped out to a 9-3 lead. Wisconsin made one final push when Michigan State earned match point at 14-10.

With Riley Bell at the service line, kills by Lauryn Gillis, Kelli Bates and Dana Rettke held off three match points, but a MSU kill by Brooke Kranda tooled off a Badger block to hand UW its first loss of the season.