LINCOLN, Neb. – It may have been the biggest road win in Wisconsin volleyball history as the 13^th-ranked Badgers swept No. 2 Nebraska at the Devaney Center on Saturday night. Wisconsin downed the Huskers 25-22, 25-21, 25-22.
 
In the offensive battle, Wisconsin (8-4 overall, 4-0 Big Ten) hit .376 (47 kill – 9 errors – 101 attempts) as a team, just ahead of the Huskers (11-2, 3-1) who hit .336 (49-13-107).  
 
Four Badgers recorded 10-or-more kills as Molly Haggerty led UW with 11 kills. Dana Rettke, Danielle Hart and Grace Loberg all added 10 kills. Hart led Wisconsin with a .643 hitting percentage (10-1-14), tallying a season-high in kills, while Rettke hit .500 (10-0-20) out of the middle.
 
Nebraska's Lexi Sun led all hitters with 15 kills while Jazz Sweet added 13 kills for the Huskers.
 
Wisconsin held Nebraska scoreless from the service line for the first time this season as UW scored on three service aces – one apiece from Rettke, Haggerty and senior Tiffany Clark.
 
Clark led the Badgers with 10 digs as Nebraska edged Wisconsin 39-36 in saves.
 
Both teams recorded four blocks with UW being led by Rettke with three stops.
 

 

Synonyms for Badgers:

GRITTY
RESILIENT
TOUGH
...WINNERS

🎥Highlights vs. Nebraska pic.twitter.com/FQWNxgOJey

— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) October 6, 2019

Pulling away late  

Wisconsin pulled away late in all three sets for the win.
 
In set one, the Badgers broke a 21-21 tie behind two kills by Rettke and a Husker hitting error to lead 24-21. Nebraska held off one UW set point before a kill by Haggerty gave UW a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
In set two, a block solo by Rettke put Wisconsin up 17-16, a lead it wouldn't relinquish the rest of the set. Two kills apiece by Hart and Duello gave the Badgers a 23-20 lead before UW challenged a touch called on Wisconsin's block. The call was overturned giving the Badgers a 24-20 lead. Nebraska again held off one set point before another kill by Haggerty put Wisconsin up 2-0 in the match.
 
Set three was tied at 20-all before UW scored three straight points – a service ace by Rettke, a block from Hart and Hilley, and a kill by Loberg. Loberg added another kill to give Wisconsin a 24-21 lead. For the third-straight set, the Huskers held off one match point before Hart connected on a slide attack to give UW the sweep. 
 

Straight from the court

"The resiliency of this group astonishes me. The way the pre-conference season closed out and to have the ability to come out and hit the reset button going into Big Ten – to be clear-minded, confident, and together is really cool. I really liked how we closed out sets and I think we've done a really good job with that the past couple weeks.

"We're best when everybody is involved, and I thought Sydney (Hilley) was really good tonight. She kept everyone involved and the passing got a lot stronger as the match went on and allowed her to be able to have some options, and we took some really good swings out of system.

"Nobody could've predicted two teams hitting at that percentage. The hitting percentages were so high because both teams were hitting so well out of system. We didn't give away too many points, we kept it pretty darn clean throughout the match. To come in here and play a pretty clean match with as few attacking errors as we had – that's what it took." – Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
 

Notes from courtside

• Wisconsin wins in Lincoln for only the second time in program history, recording its first sweep of Nebraska on the road. The last time UW won in Lincoln was in 2015 (3-1).
• UW defeats back-to-back top-five schools for the first time in program history after downing No. 5 Penn State, 3-1, on Wednesday in the UW Field House.
• The Badgers held an opponent scoreless from the service line for the third time this season.
• Nebraska loses a match for the first time under head coach John Cook when it hits better than .300.
• Wisconsin hit an opponent season-high .376 against the Huskers. The Badgers recorded their second-highest hitting percentage of the season and their fifth time over .300 this year.
• UW improves to 3-4 against top-25 teams, winning its third straight over a ranked opponent, after starting the year 0-4.
• Senior Tiffany Clark recorded her 1,000th dig as a Badger in the first set to become the 17^th UW athlete to tally 1,000 career saves. The 5-foot-11 libero now has 1,248 digs in her career after spending her freshman season at Michigan.

 

Up Next

Wisconsin travels to Northwestern on Wednesday for a 6 p.m. first serve from Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois. The match airs live on the Big Ten Network.