MADISON, Wis. – A sell-out crowd of 7,052 fans cheered the eighth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team to upset win over No. 2 Texas Saturday night in the UW Field House. In the first match of the HotelRED Invitational, the Badgers downed the Longhorns in four sets, 25-21, 25-22, 23-25, 25-12.
 
Wisconsin (3-0) hit .288 (62 kills – 20 errors – 146 attempts) while holding Texas (2-1) to a .231 (50-17-143) hitting percentage.
 
Sophomore Grace Loberg paced both the offense and defense with 19 kills and a career-high 18 digs for her second-straight double-double while hitting .457 (19-3-35).
 
Sophomore Molly Haggerty also notched her second-straight double double with 16 kills and 15 digs. Fellow sophomore Dana Retke added 11 kills and recorded a career-high five digs.
 
Texas was led by Micaya White and Logan Eggleston who both put away 16 kills.
 
Sophomore Sydney Hilley put up 50 assists in running the Badger offense while adding eight digs and two blocks.
 
The Badgers outblocked the Longhorns, 9-7, led by senior Tionna Williams with five blocks.
 
Libero Tiffany Clark tallied 16 digs on the night and combined with Loberg and Haggerty to lead the Badgers to a 66-52 advantage in the backcourt.
 
Junior Madison Duello led all players with two aces helping UW outserve Texas, 4-1.
 

UPSETTTTTT!!!!! #Badgers win set four 25-12! #OnWisconsin #RiseAsOne pic.twitter.com/KHOSxPKKPJ

— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) September 2, 2018

Notes to know

• The Badgers improve to 3-0 on the year. Texas falls to 2-1.
• The Wisconsin Field House was sold out for the 14^th straight time. The new attendance of 7,052 is the fifth highest in UW history.
• Sophomore Grace Loberg recorded her second-straight double-double with 19 kills, one off her career best, and a career-high 18 digs.
• Redshirt sophomore Molly Haggerty added 16 kills and 15 digs for her 11^th career double-double.
• Sophomore Dana Rettke added 11 kills and a career-high five digs.
• Tonight's win marks Wisconsin's highest win against a ranked opponent since defeating No. 2 Texas, 3-2, on its home court on Sept. 18, 2016.       

 

Straight from the court

"I thought we did a great job of executing the game plan and I just like the demeanor that we went in with and I liked it throughout, there was confidence, there was back to work.
 
"I thought we did a great job of siding out for most of the match and I felt Syd was fantastic tonight, I felt like she kept everybody engaged, I thought she attacked what were opportunities for us to score and I felt like our attackers were hitting what they were given, and not forcing anything."
 
-Head coach Kelly Sheffield
 
"If I had to describe it in one word it would fun, I mean that energy that the upper deck brought is so much louder than it normally is... it was just amazing I. was so confident the whole time...even when we were down a little bit, I am really proud of the way we played."
 
-Setter Sydney Hilley
 
"It's an awesome win but we've got many more to come, hopefully. We've got a lot more games to go.
 
"I think just showing that we can fight through fourth sets and fifth sets this year is a big change for us. I think this is going to bring us more confidence into our next match tomorrow, and then Big Ten and on from there. Just staying confident and taking it one-by-one."
 
-Outside hitter Grace Loberg
 

Up next

The HotelRED Invitational continues tomorrow at 1 p.m. with Texas taking on High Point. Then at 6 p.m., the Badgers will face High Point in the final match of the tournament.