MADISON, Wis. – The sixth-seeded Wisconsin volleyball team earned a first-round victory over Green Bay Thursday night at the UW Field House on the first day of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The Badgers swept the Phoenix, 25-9, 27-25, 25-15.
After a quick Wisconsin (23-6) first set victory, Green Bay (20-11) responded with a 5-0 run to start the second set. UW responded to erase the deficit, but the Phoenix rallied again late in the game to serve for two match points. With the set on the line, the Badgers stayed hungry and earned two match points of their own before sealing a 27-25 victory. Wisconsin led from the first point to the final point in the third set enroute to a first-round win.
The Badgers hit .293 (45 kills – 9 errors – 123 attempts) on the night while holding Green Bay to a .030 (30-26-134) hitting percentage. Sophomore
Molly Haggerty led UW with 10 kills and was balanced by sophomore
Dana Rettke with nine kills, sophomore
Grace Loberg with eight kills, and senior
Tionna Williams and junior
Madison Duello with seven kills apiece.
Defensively, Wisconsin out blocked the Phoenix 11-5.5 behind five blocks each from Rettke and Williams. The Badgers also earned a 62-60 advantage in the backcourt. Junior
Tiffany Clark and Haggerty both tallied a team-high 15 digs.
Notes to know
- Sophomore Sydney Hilley recorded her team-best 14th double-double of the season with 36 assists and 12 digs. The 6-foot setter has six double-doubles in the last seven matches.
- Sophomore Molly Haggerty had 10 kills and 15 digs for her eighth double-double of the season and 17th of her career.
- UW has won its last seven matches, its longest winning streak of the season.
- Green Bay's hitting percentage of .030 is the second lowest by an opponent this season.
Straight from the court
"First of all, congratulations to Green Bay on an excellent season. Like Molly (Haggerty) was saying on the way down, it was hard to score against those guys. Defensively, they played so hard. That libero is as good a libero as we've seen this year. I thought she was fantastic, and we knew that going in. She passed at a real high level. Our game plan as we were going on is whatever side she's on, serve the opposite side. Let's not even let her get her hands on the ball. Defensively, I thought she was really special.
"I thought it was a good first match. We came out ready to play. Green Bay really upped their game in the second (set), and we were behind there in the end, but I liked how our mentality was to stay with it. You can only control what happens on your side of the net. They were digging like crazy and really serving some pills at us, and I thought we did a really good job of just staying with it and fighting and getting ourselves into the third set. It was a good first win. We're excited to still be playing."
-Head coach Kelly Sheffield
"I think that's what's so great about the Big Ten. Especially that Penn State match, those matches just give us so much confidence. Every single day in the Big Ten, you're going up against the best teams and I think that just really prepares us for the tournament. Whatever's thrown our way, we're ready for it."
-Outside hitter Molly Haggerty
"We've been doing this— thriving in tough situations and tough sets in the Big Ten— all season. That really prepared us for this moment now, and it really boosted our confidence going into it. We got the first-game jitters out of the way for the tournament. We have a lot of young players out there so it's just good moving forward now."
-Middle blocker Tionna Williams
"I told the team after the match, I've learned in my experience that you shouldn't talk much with your team after a loss. This is a different loss. We're disappointed of course, but what we've accomplished this season, I'm so proud of and I'm so proud of who our student-athletes are as people. They've really come together and been amazing teammates so that's something else I'm really proud of. I'm proud of who these ladies stand for and I told the seniors that they're leaving a legacy. That was their goal at the beginning of the season and they're definitely leaving a legacy with this program.
"Wisconsin's blocking is by far the best block that we've seen this year. We even played Minnesota and I think Wisconsin's block is much better than Minnesota's block. It was challenging, we worked hard this week and put pressure on our players."
-Green Bay head coach Abbey Sutherland
Up next
The Badgers face Pepperdine Friday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in the UW Field House. First serve is set for 7 p.m. and tickets may be purchased at the gate.
