UNIVERSITY PARK, Penn. – The No. 5 Wisconsin volleyball team suffered a heartbreaking five-set loss to seventh-ranked Penn State on Friday night, and the Big Ten will have to wait one more day for its champion to be decided. The Badgers (21-6 overall, 17-2 Big Ten) jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but the Nittany Lions (24-4, 17-2) stormed back, taking the match 25-19, 25-15, 12-25, 22-25, 11-15.
Redshirt junior
Molly Haggerty led the Badgers with a match-high 16 kills, while juniors
Dana Rettke and
Grace Loberg pitched in 15 and 11 kills, respectively. As a team, Wisconsin hit .221 (60 kills – 26 errors – 154 attempts), while Penn State finished with a .244 percentage (62 – 24 – 156).
All-American middle blocker
Dana Rettke set the defensive precedent for the Badgers' front line, finishing with a career-high 13 blocks, edging out her previous high of 11 – also at Penn State a year ago. Senior libero
Tiffany Clark held down the back line with a match-high 20 digs.
In the closely battled contest, the Badgers edged out Penn State on the defensive side, finishing with 15 blocks to the Nittany Lions' 12.5, as well as a 62-59 advantage in digs. On the offensive end, despite 10 service errors, Penn State outdueled the Badgers six to one in service aces.
Straight from the Court
"When you're playing as well as what we were early on and dominating the score, really good teams won't lay down – they're going to fight. They jumped up and got some points right out of the gate in the third and I thought some of our players' demeanors changed, like they were expecting this to be easy.
"We lost our courage behind the service line and (Penn State) was really in system the second part of the match. I thought a switch happened where we were playing not to lose instead of going after it and winning, and when that happens you're going to get stung.
"They didn't get a pep talk in the locker room, I can tell you that. We just have to be a little bit tougher. I know they were a little irritated – we're in there talking and the band was right outside playing the fight song – they should be ticked off the way they are, I'd be stunned if they weren't." – Head Coach
Kelly Sheffield
Notes to Know
- Junior Dana Rettke recorded her second double-double of the season and sixth of her career with 15 kills and a career-high 13 blocks.
- Junior Sydney Hilley also tallied a double-double with 53 assists and 11 digs, the ninth of the season and the 33rd of her career.
- Senior Tiffany Clark recorded a match-high 20 digs, her fifth match this season with 20-or-more digs and the 18th over her career.
- Penn State is the first Big Ten team to hit better than the Badgers this season (.244-.221).
Up Next
The Badgers will travel to match up with Rutgers tomorrow in their final regular season and Big Ten Championship-deciding match. First tip will be live from the College Avenue Gym at 6 p.m. CT on BTN+.
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