Saturday, December 7
Madison, WI
6 p.m.
Wisconsin Badgers
22-5,15-1Big Ten
3
vs
0
UCLA
19-12,13-7Pac-12
1
2
3
F
UCLA
18
21
14
0
Wisconsin
25
25
25
3
Photo by: Greg Anderson
Feeling sweet
December 07, 2019 | Volleyball
Badgers sweep UCLA to advance to NCAA Sweet 16
MADISON, Wis. – The No. 4 Wisconsin volleyball team rolled into the Sweet 16 of the 2019 NCAA Tournament with a straight-set win over UCLA on Saturday night in the UW Field House. The Badgers (24-6) took the match over the Bruins (19-12) by a score of 25-18, 25-21, 25-14.
Two Badgers finished with double-digit kills, led by 14 from Molly Haggerty. With her seventh kill of the night, the redshirt junior surpassed 1,000 for her career. Junior Dana Rettke added 10 kills as Wisconsin hit .366 (46 kills – 9 errors – 101 attempts) as a team.
The Wisconsin front-line defense came to play again, finishing with 11 blocks for the second consecutive night and holding UCLA to a .194 percentage (38 – 18 – 103). Redshirt senior Madison Duello led the way with seven stuffs while redshirt sophomore Danielle Hart also added seven blocks.
The match finished without a single player reaching double-digit digs, with the two teams deadlocked at 38 saves apiece. Senior libero Tiffany Clark finished with a team-high eight digs, followed by Haggerty with seven. Clark also led all players with two service aces.
"UCLA can give you a whole lot of issues. They've got some servers back there that just make the ball dance and groove. Mac May is as good of an outside hitter as there is in the country and (Savvy) Simo can really give you some issues as well. On our side of the net, I thought we put a lot of pressure on them from behind the service line. We were steady all the way through. I didn't think there were incredible high or lows, we just played really solid volleyball." – Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
"My goal is to just put up a solid consistent block and let our defenders work around that. They did a great job getting those balls that got past us and I think that the middles were closing the block.
"I think it's easy to look ahead, but with our maturity we just take one match at a time and live in the moment. We've been talking about that and emphasizing that and I think that's what we've been doing really well so far." – Madison Duello
Gallery: (12/7/2019) NCAA Second Round Volleyball vs. UCLA
Two Badgers finished with double-digit kills, led by 14 from Molly Haggerty. With her seventh kill of the night, the redshirt junior surpassed 1,000 for her career. Junior Dana Rettke added 10 kills as Wisconsin hit .366 (46 kills – 9 errors – 101 attempts) as a team.
The Wisconsin front-line defense came to play again, finishing with 11 blocks for the second consecutive night and holding UCLA to a .194 percentage (38 – 18 – 103). Redshirt senior Madison Duello led the way with seven stuffs while redshirt sophomore Danielle Hart also added seven blocks.
The match finished without a single player reaching double-digit digs, with the two teams deadlocked at 38 saves apiece. Senior libero Tiffany Clark finished with a team-high eight digs, followed by Haggerty with seven. Clark also led all players with two service aces.
Absolutely nothing like it...#Badgers fans you are the BEST!!
— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) December 8, 2019
Match point, #Wisconsin. pic.twitter.com/0LVKynPT3E
Straight from the Court
"I really appreciate how loud it was in there tonight and last night. The crowd was revved up and ready to go. They came in noisy and stayed like that for both matches. I'm so appreciative of the support we get here."UCLA can give you a whole lot of issues. They've got some servers back there that just make the ball dance and groove. Mac May is as good of an outside hitter as there is in the country and (Savvy) Simo can really give you some issues as well. On our side of the net, I thought we put a lot of pressure on them from behind the service line. We were steady all the way through. I didn't think there were incredible high or lows, we just played really solid volleyball." – Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
"My goal is to just put up a solid consistent block and let our defenders work around that. They did a great job getting those balls that got past us and I think that the middles were closing the block.
"I think it's easy to look ahead, but with our maturity we just take one match at a time and live in the moment. We've been talking about that and emphasizing that and I think that's what we've been doing really well so far." – Madison Duello
Notes to Know
- Wisconsin advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the seventh-straight season under head coach Kelly Sheffield.
- Junior Molly Haggerty became the 24th Badger to record 1,000 career kills when she hit her seventh kill of the match in the second set. She is the second Badger this season to hit the 1,000-kill milestone this season, following Dana Rettke, who hit the mark in October.
- Wisconsin held its 20th opponent of the season to under .200 in hitting as UCLA hit .194.
- Senior Madison Duello shared match-high honors with a season-high seven blocks, just one off her career best.
Up Next
The Badgers move on to face No. 13 Texas A&M in the NCAA Sweet 16 next Friday. Match time will be announced on Sunday.
Team Stats
UCLA
Wisc
Kills
38
46
Errors
18
9
Attempts
103
101
Hitting %
.194
.366
Points
45
61
Assists
36
42
Aces
2
4
Blocks
5
11
Game Leaders
Kills
14
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
7
Players Mentioned
L
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