ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The third-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team grabbed its seventh straight win with a sweep of Michigan Saturday afternoon. Wisconsin (15-1, 7-1 B1G) wrapped up a perfect weekend on the road by beating the Wolverines (11-6, 4-4) 25-23, 25-15, 26-24.
After a tight first set and a Badger-dominated second set, Wisconsin had to dig deep to come from behind and win the third set in extra points.
The third set was a battle, being pushed to extra points after a relentless Wolverine team come back from a 20-17 Wisconsin lead. A 7-2 Michigan run put the Badgers in a tough spot, down 24-22. Wisconsin held off two Michigan sets points behind kills from Dana Rettke and Julia Orzol to knot the score at 24. A Wolverine attack error gave the Badgers match point at 25-24 before another Orzol kill secured the win.
As a team, the Badgers hit .302 (45 kills - 16 errors - 96 attempts) while holding Michigan to .111 (30-19-99). Orzol led the team with 14 kills, followed closely by Rettke with 12 kills and a team-best .500 (12-3-18) hitting percentage.
Izzy Ashburn recorded two service aces while Anna MacDonald added one, matching her career best.
Defensively, the Badgers were out blocked, 11-6, but Wisconsin had the advantage in digs, finishing with a 43-29 edge. Rettke had a team-best five blocks while Lauren Barnes led all players with 13 saves.
Since starting the first set with a 7-4 lead, the Badgers had to fight a motivated Michigan team to the end. The score was tied at 22 before freshman Orzol put away two straight kills to put the Badgers in set point position, 24-22. Michigan held off one set point before a Wolverine service error gave the Badgers a one-set lead.
In the second set, it was as if the Badgers were on autopilot, cruising to a 25-15 win.
Straight from the Court
Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
"It was great. Defensively, we picked it up right there at the end. I thought halfway through the set that Joslyn Boyer made some great plays out of the middle back. I thought she did a great job and it kind of kick-started us a bit.
"(Smrek) got no stats but they had zero interest of going to the left side when her and Dana were up there. Sometimes you can have an impact in ways that don't show in the stats.
"We played yesterday and got in here late last night. We got no practice time this morning. We didn't watch much film on Michigan. This is a different arena and environment. You could tell that we were kind of struggling out of the gate. It was kind of ugly. We slowly got better as we were working through the first set. The depth was helping in the second set but we took our foot off the gas in the third set and dug in. We got two road wins against Big Ten opponents and we should be happy about that."
Notes to Know
- The Badgers extend their Big Ten winning streak to seven matches, its second-longest winning streak of the season.
- Wisconsin hit over .300 for the second-straight match after hitting under .300 for the previous three matches.
- Fifth-year senior Lauren Barnes has recorded 10-plus digs in her sixth-straight match, leading all players with 13 saves.
- Junior Anna MacDonald tied her career-best with one service ace, just the second of her career.
Up Next
No. 3 Wisconsin returns to the UW Field House for two matches against top-15 teams as No. 8 Ohio State and No. 15 Penn State come to town. The Badgers take on the Buckeyes on Friday at 8 p.m. and the Nittany Lions on Saturday at 6 p.m. Both matches air live on the Big Ten Network.
