Volleyball team celebrates at PSU
Bianca Miceli
3
Winner Wisconsin WIS 22-6, 15-5
2
Penn State PSU 23-7, 14-6
Winner
Wisconsin WIS
22-6, 15-5
3
Final
2
Penn State PSU
23-7, 14-6
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Wisconsin WIS 25 22 25 19 21 (3)
Penn State PSU 20 25 23 25 19 (2)

Game Recap: Volleyball |

Badgers beat Nittany Lions in epic season finale

Wisconsin wins at Penn State for first time in 16 years

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – It took five sets and extra points, but the eighth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team terminated No. 7 Penn State in its home gym Saturday night. The Badgers capped off the regular season with a 25-20, 22-25, 25-23, 19-25, 21-19 thriller to finish third in the Big Ten conference.
 
Wisconsin (22-6 overall, 15-5 B1G) and Penn State (23-7, 14-6) traded sets throughout the match to set up a fifth-set showdown in Rec Hall. Neither team was willing to go down without a fight, leading to 13 ties and six lead changes during the final frame. A Badger block from Madison Duello and Dana Rettke gave UW set point at 20-19 and helped secure the match after a PSU attack error gave the Badgers the elusive two-point advantage.
 
The Badgers hit .225 (71 kills – 29 errors – 187 attempts) in the season finale with five players earning double-digit kills. Duello led all players with a career-high 24 kills. Rettke (14), Grace Loberg (11), Tionna Williams (10) and Molly Haggerty (10) also found the floor 10 or more times.
 
Similarly, Wisconsin also had five players record double-digit digs. Libero Tiffany Clark led the way with 15 saves while Haggerty and Hilley tallied 13 digs, Loberg notched 12 digs and M.E. Dodge recorded 11 saves. As a team, the Badgers earned a slight 76-75 advantage in the backcourt.
 
At the net, UW and PSU each tallied 13 stuffs. Rettke exploded for a career-high 11 blocks on the night for the Badgers. Rettke also proved powerful behind the service line with three aces for the Badgers.
   

Notes to know

  • The Badgers recorded only their second win in University Park and their first since 2002.
  • Junior Madison Duello tallied a career-best 24 kills in tonight's victory.
  • Sophomore Sydney Hilley recorded her fifth double-double in the last six matches with a career high 61 assists and 13 digs. Three other Badgers also recorded double-doubles including Dana Rettke tallying 14 kills and a career-high 11 blocks, Grace Loberg with 11 kills and 12 digs, and Molly Haggerty with 10 kills and 13 digs.
  • Wisconsin finishes the Big Ten season tied for third in the standings with Nebraska at 15-5.
  • The Badgers have won a season-high six straight matches.
 

Straight from the court

"It was a pretty close match! All the way through it was pretty close. I thought game two we made a lot of unforced errors as well as the beginning of game four. The other times when we were winning I thought that we were playing a little bit cleaner. We got some really, really good swings on some balls and those guys at the end of the match were just making some incredible digs, really ridiculous digs that against most opponents those balls would be going down to the floor. I liked the mentality that we had. We were fighting off a lot of match points and we were doing it with execution. I thought we passed the ball there when it got right down to it and Syd was running the offense really well. She kept it balanced and I thought Duello was absolutely fantastic."
 
-Head coach Kelly Sheffiled
 

Up next

The 64-team bracket for the 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship will be announced on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU. The Badgers are 43-21 in 21 years of the tournament and are looking for their sixth straight appearance.
 
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