CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Despite losing the first set of a match for the just the second time this season, the fifth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team rallied to defeat Illinois in four sets on Sunday afternoon. The Badgers (11-1,  3-1 B1G) handed the Fighting Illini their first Big Ten Conference loss of the season, 22-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-17.

Wisconsin led 17-12 in the first set before Illinois (11-4, 3-1) went on a 10-2 run, including seven straight, to lead 22-19. The Badgers held off two Illini set points before a kill handed the Badgers just their second first-set loss of the season. UW hit just .158 (14 kills - 8 errors - 38 attempts) while Illinois hit .306 (14-3-36).

The Badgers jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the second set, fueled by two service aces from Izzy Ashburn, as UW continued to improve as the match went on. The Illini battled and cut the Wisconsin lead to 15-11 but sparked by freshman Lauren Jardine, who came off the bench to put away six kills in the match, the Badgers tied the match at a set apiece.

Wisconsin hit .209 in the second set and improved that to .333 in the third set and .486 in the fourth set. Overall, the Badgers hit .289 (65-21-152) for the match while the Fighting Illini hit .197 (48-20-142). Sydney Hilley had 54 assists for the Badgers.

Orzol was one of three Badgers to put away 10-or-more kills as UW finished with 17 more kills (65-48) than Illinois. Sophomore Devyn Robinson added 14 kills while hitting a team-best .440 (14-3-25) and fifth-year senior Dana Rettke added 10 kills. 

Defensively, Wisconsin was outblocked by Illinois, 11-7, with Devyn Robinson recording a team-best three blocks.

Lauren Barnes helped the Badgers get the edge in digs 66-50, recording 26 saves followed by Hilley with 10 digs for her third double-double of the season.

Behind the service line, Ashburn led the team with three aces as the Badgers recorded one less ace than Illinois, 5-4.

Straight from the Court
Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
"I'm pretty fired up now. I learned something about my team today, just digging in deeper. We talked about this going into the match that we were going to see how mentally tough we were going into the locker room. This is a tough place to play. How they serve and how they block got to us early on. We dug in there and stayed with it. We knew this was going to be a match with some runs of points and that can be frustrating.

"That was one of Grace's (Loberg) best matches of her career. She hasn't had better matches. There's a calmness about her that was needed. She went in there and hit a lot of different shots that go them out of there defense that opened up some areas to attack. Just her overall game was really good.

"Barnes was on the other end of those bombs and fighting and keeping the ball off the ground. I thought she was special defensively."

Grace Loberg
"I just feel like as a team we are really coming together. Everyone is doing their role and helping each other... Sydney (Hilley) was putting up great balls that gave us the opportunity to hit up different shots and see the court.

"We had some little communication breakdowns and we talked about that and figured out what we needed to do. We had to bounce back from that first set. I think we grew a lot this weekend. We came into practice knowing what we need to work on and grew. We were ready for this past weekend and are ready for this week coming up."

Notes to Know

• Libero Lauren Barnes recorded her second straight 20-plus dig match, finishing with a match-high 26 digs, just two short of her career best.
• Junior Joslyn Boyer tied her career high with a kill, just second career kill.
• Middle blocker Dana Rettke put away 10 kills in the match, her seventh consecutive match wtih 10-plus kills.
• Setter Sydney Hilley recorded her 40th career double-double with 54 assists and 10 digs. It was her third double-double of the season.
• Illinois hit an opponent season-high .197 (48 kills - 20 errors - 142 attempts) hitting percentage. 

Up Next
The Badgers have a quick turnaround before they host Iowa (2-12, 0-4) at the UW Field House Wednesday at 6 p.m. The match will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.