MADISON, Wis. – For the sixth-straight season, the Wisconsin volleyball team has advanced to NCAA Regional play. The sixth-seeded Badgers advanced by downing Pepperdine 25-16, 25-12, 15-25, 25-13 in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Friday night in the UW Field House. The Badgers have won their last eight matches, a season-long winning streak.
The Badgers (25-10) blasted out two a 2-0 lead in the match and 10-6 lead in the third set until Pepperdine (21-9) rode the waves, using a momentum surge to outscore the Badgers 14-5 and win the third period. UW responded right out of the gate in the fourth set, jumping out to a 14-8 lead and never looking back.
Wisconsin hit .338 (58 kills – 13 errors – 133 attempts) while holding Pepperdine to a .152 (45-22-151) hitting percentage. Senior
Tionna Williams led all players with a season-high 14 kills. Outside hitters
Grace Loberg and
Molly Haggerty hit in the double digits with 12 kills apiece.
It was UW's defense that helped dampen the Waves as the Badgers outdug Pepperdine 77-54 and outblocked them 9-4. Setter
Sydney Hilley led all players with 19 digs with Haggerty (18), libero
Tiffany Clark (16) and Loberg (15) also tallied double-digit saves.
At the net, middle blocker
Dana Rettke paced the Badgers with six stuffs.
Notes to know
- Sophomore Sydney Hilley recorded her seventh double-double in the last eight matches with 48 assists and 19 digs, which ties her career best.
- Senior Tionna Williams led all players with a season-high 14 kills while hitting .458 (14 – 3 – 24).
- Sophomore Grace Loberg and Molly Haggerty both recorded double-doubles. Loberg had 12 kills and 15 digs while Haggerty had 12 kills and recorded a career-high 18 digs.
Straight from the court
"That team can really do some things to stress you out. That was something we talked about and were concerned about was just how good their serving is. I think you saw that in the third set. Down there on the floor, there was a lot of wicked movement on their balls. To be able to grind and pass the way that we did was a huge reason why we are still playing.
"You got to see the tempo of their outside sets and how fast those are going. Big part of playing a team who really tries hard to stress you out is keeping your composure and battling, fighting and staying present. They are going to get you at times so the ability to keep battling is key.
"We got knocked on the mat in the third (set) and I am really proud of our ability to pick ourselves back up and dust ourselves off and hit back. We did that with execution and I think we did a really good job with that."
-Head coach Kelly Sheffield
"It felt really good. I thought our passers did a great job against those servers. I thought that all of my hitters, I had so much trust in and they were all being smart. I think that is what you mean by everyone clicking, because everyone did their job."
-Setter Sydney Hilley
"Oh man, don't make me cry again! It was incredible just knowing that this is my last game in the Fieldhouse, possibly depending on Illinois. It was just incredible the amount of support I've had over the last four years being here. Being able to share this moment of going to the Sweet 16 again with my teammates is incredible."
-Middle blocker Tionna Williams
"First we have our three seniors here. I thought it was a nice honor to bring them up. They've led our team well. They've brought our team back to a program that we will continue to strive to be and that we were this year. I think they've laid a great foundation culturally that I think our underclassmen are going to benefit from.
"In terms of the match tonight, Wisconsin came out playing well and so did we. We had some chances early and they kept the pressure on. We had to be a little more aggressive serving than we wanted to. They played really well game one and two. Game three we caught fire a little bit serving and got our offense going a little bit."
-Pepperdine head coach Scott Wong
Up next
The Badgers will play in the NCAA Sweet 16 next Friday. More details on their match will be released following the conclusion of the second-round matches of the tournament Saturday night.
