MADISON, Wis. -- The fourth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team was not able to get its revenge for an Oct. 31 loss at Purdue, falling to the ninth-ranked Boilermakers (19-5, 11-4 B1G), 3-1, on Friday night. Purdue downed the Badgers (20-3, 12-3 B1G) 25-20, 19-25, 25-22, 25-21. 

One highlight of the night was fifth-year senior Dana Rettke setting the UW career blocking record. The 6-foot-8 middle blocker tallied five blocks on the night to break the mark of 682 blocks set by Heather Dodaro from 1994-97. Rettke now has 683 blocks in her career.

The loss ended two Wisconsin home streaks -- UW's 30 straight wins in the UW Field House, including 23-straight Big Ten wins. 

The Badger offense could not get going against the top-ranked Boilermaker defense. Purdue entered the match ranked second nationally in blocks per set. Wisconsin recorded its lowest hitting percentage of the season at .128 (47 kills - 28 errors - 149 attacks) but Purdue didn't hit that much better, connecting on .197 (54-24-152). 

Anna Smrek had the best hitting percentage for any Badger, connecting on .364 (5-1-11). Grace Loberg was the only UW player who recorded double-digit kills, putting away 12 total. Devyn Robinson and Julia Orzol followed with eight kills apiece.

Defensively, the Badgers were out blocked by the Boilermakers 14.5-9. Rettke led the team with five blocks with her record-setting block coming in the fourth set. The Badgers were down 5-4 when Rettke and Julia Orzol got a stop tie it up 5-5. The duo combined for a block on the next play as well, marking Rettke surpassing the previous mark and putting Wisconsin up 6-5. It wasn't enough to spark a come back as Purdue pulled away late in the set for the win.

Sydney Hilley helped the Badgers out-dig the Boilermakers, 65-55, tallying a team-high 17 saves. Lauren Barnes added 16 digs while sophomore Jade Demps finished with a career-high 11 digs and Orzol contributed 10 saves

Behind the service line, Barnes had a team-best four aces, marking a new career best for the libero. Orzol was the only other Badger to record an ace. Despite Wisconsin finishing with a 5-3 edge in aces, the Boilermakers forced UW out of its offense with its tough serving and strong transition offense. 

Straight from the Court
Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
"At the end of the day, we got outworked and that's not something that happens too often for these guys. But the great thing about this league is there's not a whole lot of time that you can spend down. You've got to get yourself up and dust yourself off because there's another tough one right around the corner.

"The thing that I really like about this group is, they're going to get back in here and go … the sky isn't falling here. It's emotional for these guys because it doesn't happen very much and it matters, and they're emotional because they know they didn't play particularly well. The thing that I'm excited about, and it's weird to have the word excited about, but I am, is I'm fired up to get back in the gym because I know we are going to have just some unbelievable practices. As a coach, that shows the character of your group."

Sydney Hilley
"Don't get me wrong, that's a really good (Purdue) team. Really good blocking team, really good serving team, and they outworked us in transition. But I think it just shows that we have a lot of growth left to do and we have time and we just got to make sure that we capitalize on every opportunity. We have to get better and to put ourselves in a good position to win the next game."

Lauren Barnes
"That's one of the best blocking teams in the country. We had to cover hitters a little bit more than we did and work harder in transition and its all about the effort and staying in it.  That's definitely going to be something we'll be working on these next couples days of practice, being able to have each others' backs and having our hitters' backs."

Notes to Know

• Graduate student Dana Rettke became Wisconsin's all-time block leader when she recorded her fifth block of the match at 6-5 in the fourth set. Rettke, who now has 683 blocks, passed Heather Dodaro (1994-97), who had 682 blocks in her career.
• Fifth-year senior Lauren Barnes recorded a career-high four service aces.
• Graduate student Sydney Hilley recorded her seventh double-double of the season and 44th of her career with 38 assists and 16 digs.
• Sophomore Jade Demps recorded a career-high 11 digs.
• Wisconsin hit a season-low .128 (47K-28E-149TA), its third time this season below .200, all losses.
• The loss snapped Wisconsin's school-record 30-match home winning streak, including a 25-match home Big Ten winning streak. It also drops the Badgers into a three-way tie with Minnesota and Nebraska for first place in the Big Ten at 12-3.

Up Next: 
The Badgers stay home and host the Northwestern Wildcats on Sunday afternoon, just one week after sweeping the Wildcats in Evanston. First serve is at 1 p.m. and streamed live on Big Ten+.