Sports: Volleyball

Bench aid leads to 2-0 weekend

The Wisconsin volleyball team boasts numerous hitters capable of dominating a match, and on Sunday, it was senior Morgan Salow’s turn.

Salow came off the bench to lead the Badgers to a resounding 3-0 win over Ohio State, as the outside hitter turned in her finest performance of the season.

“We had a couple people step up,” head coach Pete Waite said. “Morgan Salow had a great match.”

Salow led UW with 13 kills and hit .611 for the match, both of which are career highs. She also was the only Badger that managed to reach double-digit kills for the day.

Salow was most dominant in the second set against the Buckeyes, when the outcome of the match was still very much in doubt. She recorded five kills on six attempts and put down four kills in a six-point run, stretching the lead from 12-11 to 18-11.

“Obviously, it was our passing,” Salow said. “Our passing and our setting. I am so excited about how the team just meshed well today, and everybody was just on. Everything felt good today, but especially our passing, which I thought was really good.”

Salow’s performance was especially important in a match where the Badgers’ top hitter, junior Brittney Dolgner, struggled to find her rhythm.

“Yeah, definitely, it is fantastic,” Waite said of Salow coming off the bench. “And we have known that about Morgan. Over the course of her career she has come in the middle, she has come in the left and she has come from the right. At times, that has really prepared her for right now. We are comfortable putting her anywhere, and she feels good playing any position, so it has worked out fantastic.”

Salow also played a key role in the come-from-behind victory on Friday against Michigan. While she only recorded four kills for the match, three of them came in the fourth set, and she provided an emotional spark off the bench.

“I thought Morgan Salow came in and did a great job for us,” Waite said Friday. “And that was a sub situation that we hadn’t done before, but we just made a decision on the bench that we thought we needed some more size in there on the block, more of an attacking block, and she did a great job.”

Badgers stop crucial losing streak

Last weekend, the Badgers opened up Big Ten conference play by losing at Iowa and Minnesota. For a team with Big Ten championship aspirations, the matches this weekend were must-win if they hoped to stay in the Big Ten race.

After dropping the first two sets against Michigan on Friday, UW responded by winning the next six sets combined against the Buckeyes and the Wolverines.

“I was just thinking that it kind of felt like the Michigan football game, in reverse though,” Waite said. “You know, they got down two sets, and we dug down; that was great to see.”

Though the Badgers needed both of these wins, UW remained calm throughout the week and treated the matches like any other.

“Obviously, it felt great,” libero Kim Kuzma said of sweeping the weekend. “But we just worked really hard in practice this week, and we really felt like we could play a lot better. Last match it felt great to come back and win the match, and today, we played together as a team.”