MADISON, Wis. – The top-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team is back-to-back Big Ten Conference champions after sweeping Michigan Thursday evening in the UW Field House. The Badgers (14-0, 14-0 B1G) downed the Wolverines 25-23, 25-12, 25-11 to claim their second-straight league title, becoming back-to-back champions for the first time since 2000 and 2001.
Wisconsin dominated Michigan (4-8, 4-8) across the board. As a team, Wisconsin hit .344 (44 kills - 11 errors – 96 attempts) while holding Michigan to .046 (25- 20–108). The Badgers struggled early on, hitting .167 (15-7-48) in the first set but upping their attack percentage to .577 (17-2-26) in the third set.
Senior
Dana Rettke tied her season high with 17 kills as the only Badger in double figures. The 6-foot-8 middle blocker hit .586 (17-0-29) in the match with no hitting errors.
Molly Haggerty and
Devyn Robinson each added seven kills to the UW offense. Michigan was led by Paige Jones with 13 of the team's 25 kills.
Senior
Sydney Hilley put up 35 assists at setter and recorded her first double-double of the season, adding 10 digs. Senior
Lauren Barnes led UW with 13 digs as the Badgers finished with a 53-38 edge in the backcourt.
Wisconsin also outblocked Michigan 8-2 behind five stuffs from Rettke. Redshirt junior
Danielle Hart had one of her best all-around games of the season, hitting .667 (6-0-9) and adding three blocks, including one solo.
Both teams struggled from the service line with Wisconsin finishing with a 3-2 edge in service aces. The Badgers had seven service errors on the night compared to six for the Wolverines.
Wisconsin gained an early lead in the first set, jumping out to a 9-3 advantage and forcing Michigan to call a time out. The break rejuvenated the Wolverines, who came back to tie the set at 12. UM looked to be on the way to winning the first set, leading 22-18, before the Badgers started a comeback. Three kills by Rettke keyed a 5-0 run to put Wisconsin up 23-22. Michigan knotted the score at 23 before a kill by Haggerty and a Wolverine hitting error gave Wisconsin the lead.
The Badgers continued to improve throughout the match dominating the second and third sets to win both games by 13-or-more points.
Straight from the Court
Head Coach Kelly Sheffield:
"It certainly felt good to play. One match in the last 39 days for some and for some of them it's been even longer than that. Happy for them. It was certainly difficult.
"We thought it might be a little bit tough coming out the gates. Michigan is a talented team, they have a lot of talented players and we were a little bit rough out of the gate and I think that can be expected. That's why we didn't call a timeout for a while because we wanted them to get into a rhythm. We got better as the set went on, we got better as the match went on.
"I loved our fighting spirit to get off the floor. We were scrambling back there, bodies all over the floor. The defensive efforts were fantastic."
Dana Rettke
"It's very satisfying to get that trophy in our hands. We have some of the most dedicated athletes on our team. All the pauses and inconsistencies this season really makes it worth it. I'm just really happy that we can bring this back to Wisconsin and have it with our team two years in a row."
Sydney Hilley
"Me and Dana have always had that connection and she was telling me to give her the ball, so every time I was pumping her the ball and she was putting it away. You could just see it in her eyes she wanted that Big Ten Championship and she wasn't going to let that first set get away."
Notes to Know
- Wisconsin wins its seventh Big Ten championship, claiming back-to-back titles for the first time since 2000 and 2001.
- Senior Dana Rettke tied her season high with 17 kills and did not record an attack error for the fifth match this season.
- The Badgers hit over .300 for the 10th time this season.
- Michigan recorded the season-lowest opponent hitting percentage of the season at .046.
Up Next
The Badgers wrap up the regular season on Friday when they face the Wolverines again. First serve is at 2 p.m. live on ESPNU.
