East Lansing, Mich. – The No. 6 Wisconsin volleyball team (13-4 overall, 9-0 Big Ten) swept conference foe Michigan State (13-6 overall, 4-5 Big Ten) on the road on Friday night, 25-19, 25-16, 25-21.
Two Badgers finished with double-figure kills, led by
Molly Haggerty with 14 (14 kills -3 errors-36 attempts) while
Grace Loberg added 12 kills (12-4-26).
The Badgers beat the Spartans in nearly every statistical category, except for blocks – where both teams tied with five. Wisconsin took the advantage in kills (41-35), hitting percentage (.303-.151), service aces (8-2), and digs (46-40).
Junior captain
Sydney Hilley was the lone Badger in double-digits for digs with 12, which she added on to her 31 assists to give her a team-leading seventh double-double.
Other notable performances came from freshman
Izzy Ashburn with four service aces – her third time this season with four or more – and redshirt sophomore
Danielle Hart, who led the Badgers with four blocks on the night.
Straight from the Court
"The thing that I liked about the serving is that we had quite a few service errors early, and sometimes when you do that you lose your confidence behind the service line and start serving just to keep balls in play. We didn't do that as a team, we stayed aggressive and kept working balls into space.
"I thought we played really, really smart. They have a lot of size up there, this is a really good defensive team - it's hard to score against them. Their front court is really good and they've got a left back that can keep the ball off the floor pretty well. When the kill wasn't there, we were putting the ball in good areas just to make them work and scramble. It was just a smart offensive match."
On winning second straight match without
Dana Rettke:
"She's obviously a very special player, but these guys know it's not just a one person show. A lot of players have developed their game and they have confidence in themselves to be able to get the job done. You have to play a little bit cleaner when she's out, and I'm not so certain we would have been able to do that a year ago. No matter who's in there you still have to serve and pass, it's all about the first contacts." – Head Coach
Kelly Sheffield
Notes to Know
- The Badgers tallied eight service aces in their third straight match. Freshman Izzy Ashburn recorded a match-high four aces, her seventh match this season with three-or-more service aces. Junior Nicole Shanahan scored on a career-high two aces.
- For the fourth-straight match, Wisconsin held its opponent to a hitting percentage under .200. The Spartans hit .151 (35K-19E-106TA).
- UW improves to 9-0 in Big Ten play, its best conference opening since a 9-0 start in 2007.
- Wisconsin's outside hitting duo of Molly Haggerty and Grace Loberg combined for 26 of the Badgers' 41 team kills.
- Junior Sydney Hilley recorded her team-leading seventh double-double of the season with 31 assists and 12 digs. The setter has 31 double-doubles in her career, which ties her for 10th on the UW career list.
Up Next
The No. 6 Badgers will stay on the road to cap off the weekend, facing Michigan at 12 p.m. CT on Sunday.
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