Badgers overpower Hoosiers, stay perfect in Big Ten

Sunday, September 29

UW Field House

1 p.m.

Wisconsin Badgers

6-4, 2-0

Indiana

11-3, 0-2

Indiana

Wisconsin

Photo by: Chad Mosley

Badgers overpower Hoosiers, stay perfect in Big Ten

September 29, 2019 | Volleyball

Box Score

A day of individual season and career-highs

By: Drew Kocken

Madison, WI – The No. 13 Wisconsin volleyball team remains undefeated in Big Ten Conference play after downing Indiana on Sunday afternoon. The Badgers downed the Hoosiers 25-20, 20-25, 25-17, 25-15 in front of a sold-out crowd at the UW Field House.

The second of three home matches to kick off the Big Ten season was a dominant one for Wisconsin, and it was a day of season and career bests for multiple Badgers.

The Badgers win came on the back of their advantage in kills (59-41) and service aces (11-3), as the offense was firing on all cylinders.

Three Badgers finished in double-digit kills, led by Molly Haggerty, who had a season-high 20 kills. Dana Rettke added 16, followed by Grace Loberg with 14.

Wisconsin had six service aces in a dominant fourth set, led by freshman Izzy Ashburn, who set a new career-high of five service aces. Dana Rettke added a season-high three service aces.

Tiffany Clark held down the defensive side of the net with a season-high 23 digs, and Ashburn tied a career high 12 digs.

Junior captain Sydney Hilley added her fourth double-double of the season, finishing with 48 assists and 12 digs.

Now that's just some good ol' fashioned volleyball right there 👌

All facets of the #Badgers running smoothly this afternoon! pic.twitter.com/Yn94O0vhnY
— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) September 29, 2019

Straight from the Court

"There were so many points we gave away in the second (set) with a lot of attack errors and it wasn't very clean, but I kind of look at it like this – it's like an opposing team scoring more points than you in the second quarter. There's more than one set for us. Fortunately, it starts over, we get a clean slate, we went one-to-one and we got a lot cleaner.

"We're going to have to continue to get better defensively to give ourselves a chance against those two teams. The Penn State match is at home Wednesday night, it should be an awesome match. I'm looking forward to the crowd being really loud and getting behind us." – Head Coach Kelly Sheffield

"That last set, I felt on top of the world. We had really good energy and really just playing for fun and having each other's backs. I think that was the most fun I've ever had playing a set and I think we're really going to focus on carrying that feeling over into the Penn State match because that's when we play our best." – Tiffany Clark

Notes to Know

After the first weekend of Big Ten play, Wisconsin is one of only five teams that are undefeated after two matches.
Redshirt senior Madison Duello played in her 100^th career match, joining teammate M.E. Dodge who played her 100^th match at Washington on Sept. 21.
Junior Grace Loberg picked up her 500^th career kill with her first kill of the match in set one. The 6-foot-3 outside hitter finished with 14 kills in the match to bring her career total to 513.
Junior Sydney Hilley recorded her team-best fourth double-double of the season and 28^th of her career, putting up 48 assists at setter while adding 12 digs.
Freshman Izzy Ashburn scored on a career best with five service aces. The 5-foot-11 setter/defensive specialist has three-or-more aces in five of 10 matches this season.
Redshirt junior Molly Haggerty went over 600 career digs with eight saves today. The 6-foot-1 outside hitter had 602 digs in her three seasons. Haggerty recorded a season-high 20 kills, the first UW player to hit the 20-kill mark this season.
Senior Tiffany Clark led all player with a season-high 23 digs, her first time over 20 saves this season.

Up Next

The Badgers finish out their three-match home stand to start Big Ten play on Wednesday as they take on No. 5 Penn State, live on the Big Ten Network at 8 p.m. CT from the UW Field House.