MADISON, Wis. -- Despite a late push from Dayton, the second-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team remains undefeated on the season after sweeping the Flyers on Thursday night at the UW Field House. The Badgers (3-0) downed Dayton (2-2), 25-13, 25-19, 25-23.
The first set started strong with the Badgers scoring the first six points. The team recorded their highest hitting percentage of the night (.650) with 13 kills on 20 attempts with no errors, as Wisconsin led by as many as 14 points toward the end of the set. The Flyers hit .000 (8 kills - 8 errors - 27 total attempts). The Flyers held off three set points before
Jade Demps closed out the set with a kill.
Dayton stepped up its play in the second set as the two teams battled through eight ties and three lead changes before Wisconsin went on a 5-0 scoring run to take a 16-13 lead. The Flyers would get no closer as the Badgers scored their last four points off kills.
The third set was another battle, again featuring eight ties and two lead changes. The Badgers broke a 20-all tie behind kills from
Grace Loberg and
Dana Rettke but Dayton wasn't done. The Flyers held off one match point at 24-23 but a service error by the visitors gave Wisconsin the win.
Rettke (11), Loberg (10) and
Devyn Robinson (10) accounted for 31 of UW's 47 total kills. Robinson hit a team-best .562 (10-1-16).
Wisconsin finished the match hitting .389 (47-12-90) while the Flyers improved as the match progressed, hitting .176 (31-16-85) as a team.
Behind the service line,
Joslyn Boyer and
Giorgia Civita both recorded two aces as the Badgers gave up the first two service aces of the season by an oppponent.
Defensively, the Badgers recorded seven team blocks, edging the Flyers, who had six. Rettke shared match-high honors with four blocks while Loberg and
Danielle Hart both chipped in three stuffs.
Lauren Barnes led the team with eight digs followed by
Sydney Hilley with seven was Wisconsin finished with a 33-25 advantage in digs.
Straight from the court
Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
"One of the things that I love about the beginning of the season is everybody is able to figure out things you need to work on. I think both teams found some things that they did well and some things that they got to get better at, so I'm excited to play those guys tomorrow. I thought they got more comfortable as the match went on. I thought we on our side got softer as the match went on from behind the service line and defensively. I thought they got more aggressive as the match was going on.
"I think that there's a level of disappointment that you're going to get from both these guys because what we saw on the other side of the net is qualities that we like to pride ourselves on- getting stronger as the match goes on, playing fearlessly, responding when you're backs against the wall (and) come out swinging. There's a total level of respect for how they responded and probably disappointment from these guys that people on the other side of the net showed more of that than what we did."
Sheffield on the fans:
"One thing I want to make sure that we don't get out of here saying that this student support tonight was awesome. That was fantastic, I mean there were a lot of them here. You can tell that they are chopping at the bit, they haven't been to live sports in a while. It's exciting to get them back on campus no doubt. That was a fun environment."
Setter Sydney Hilley:
"I think we want to pride ourselves on getting stronger as the match goes on. We want that to be the identity of our team. We want to start strong and we want to figure things out and get stronger as the night goes on. I think Kelly was right when he said we got softer and I don't think that we were better at the end of the match. I'm excited we get another chance tomorrow to come out and play some Badger volleyball and finish strong."
Notes from the floor
- The Badgers improved to 3-0 on the season, marking the fifth time in the last six years that UW was undefeated through three matches.
- Wisconsin also improves to 5-0 against Dayton.
- UW continues to dominate opponents in hitting percentage, hitting .389 (47 kills – 12 errors – 90 attempts) compared to .176 (31-16-85) for Dayton. On the season, the Badgers are hitting .368 while holding opponents to .155.
- Wisconsin gave up its first service aces of the season as the Flyers scored two on the Badgers in the third set.
- For the first time this season, UW had three players score in double figures in kills. Dana Rettke tied for match-high honors with 11 kills while Grace Loberg and Devyn Robinson both put away 10 kills.
- Libero Lauren Barnes had her streak of matches with double-digit digs snapped at 10 as she led the Badgers with eight digs on the night.
Up Next
The Badgers stay home for part two of the double-header against Dayton. First serve is at 7 p.m. on Friday live on B1G+.
