SPORTS
Volleyball gets ousted at NCAA Tourney
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Sunday, December 9, 2001
For the second year in a row, the Texas A&M volleyball team upset a higher-ranked team in the NCAA Regional semifinals.
Last season it was third-ranked Hawaii and this season it was sixth-ranked Wisconsin. The Aggies (26-5) ended the Badgers season at 27-4.
Wisconsin was competing in its 10th NCAA Tournament, losing in the regional semifinals for the fourth time. The Badgers have advanced to the regional finals three times, including in 2000 when they won a regional and advanced to the NCAA Championship match.
“Today was a day we came out and flat out played like crud,” Wisconsin coach Pete Waite said. “I could probably say two times this season we’ve had an off day and we took losses in both of them, and this is an unfortunate time to have that other day. This is not the team I’ve seen 98 percent of the season. I don’t have any reasons, excuses — anything like that. Everything was set; we were healthy and ready to go.”
Wisconsin looked out of sync from the start and that showed in the stats. The Badgers hit .167 percent for the match, their second lowest on the year. The Aggies used their strong back-row play to stop the Badgers offense. A&M had 69 digs with four players in double figures, led by 18 from Michelle Cole.
The Aggies held Badger All-American Sherisa Livingston to a .200 hitting percentage, well below her season average of .409 percent. Livingston led all hitters with 14 kills, while Jill Odenthal added 12 kills.
A&M hit .255 percent for the match, led by Tara Pulaski with 13 kills and a .545 hitting percentage. Jenna Moscovic put up 43 assists in running the Aggie offense as they had 54 kills compared to 49 for the Badgers. Lizzy Fitzgerald had 33 assists for the Badgers.
After recording 11 and 12 service aces in their first- and second-round matches, the Badgers had only one service ace by Odenthal in the match. Wisconsin also had 10 service errors, including six in Game 1.
The Badgers out-blocked the Aggies 8-4, led by four from Amy Hultgren. Lori Rittenhouse had a career-high 16 digs, while Fitzgerald had 14 digs.
Wisconsin came out flat in Game 1 and struggled against Texas A&M’s defense. The Aggies broke a 12-12 tie with five straight points, including two off Badger errors. A&M had its largest lead of the game at 20-14 but the UW battled back to pull within two (21-19) off a kill by Livingston.
The Aggies got their lead back up to five (27-22), but the Badgers rallied behind the play of freshman Marian Weidner, who came in for Lori Rittenhouse. Weidner had two kills as Wisconsin held off two game points and pulled to within one at 29-28. A kill by Cole gave the Aggies the game.
Game 2 was an almost identical replay of the first period with A&M breaking an early tie to take the lead. The score was tied at 11 when the Aggies scored three straight points, including two off Badger errors, to take a 14-11 lead.
Texas A&M took its largest lead of the game at 25-17, but behind four kills and a service ace from Odenthal, the Badgers pulled to within three at 27-24. That would be all the UW would score as the Aggies took the second period.
Despite changing their line-up in Game 3, starting Weidner in place of Rittenhouse, and changing their rotation, the Badgers again couldn’t stay with the Aggies after a middle-of-the-game tie. A&M broke a 14-14 tie, outscoring the UW 5-1 to take a 19-15 lead. The Aggies increased their lead to eight at 27-19 and again at 29-21. The Badgers held off two match points, but a kill by Pulaski gave the Aggies the win.
“Give Texas A&M some credit,” Waite said. “They played some very good ball — touched a lot of balls at the net, dug a lot of balls and played the game that we normally play. I just wish we would have brought our best game today.”
