After suffering its first two losses of the season, the Wisconsin volleyball team rebounded with its first Big Ten win of the year against Ohio State Sunday afternoon at the UW Field House.

It took No. 5 Wisconsin (10-2, 1-1 Big Ten) only three sets (25-19, 25-19, 25-17) to dispose of the Buckeyes (9-5, 0-2), but OSU managed to hang with the Badgers throughout the match.

Head coach Kelly Sheffield said Ohio State’s multiple formations and offensive sets, as well as their constant substitutions, made them a difficult matchup to prepare for.

“I thought we did a really good job of not letting them go on runs,” Sheffield said. “I thought we did a really good job of communicating.”

Sheffield said communication was key to identifying and adjusting to OSU’s substitutions.

Despite the Badgers consistently establishing a lead early on in each set, the Buckeyes found a way to fight back and keep it close, most notably in the third and final set.

Wisconsin scored the first seven points of that set, with sophomore middle blocker and senior right-side hitter Courtney Thomas leading the charge. Haleigh Nelson opened the set with a kill, and then two points later Thomas and Nelson combined for a block to put the Badgers up four. Thomas slammed a monster kill to increase the lead to 6-0, followed by another block from Thomas and Nelson.

After a Thomas kill and an OSU attacking error, the blocking duo was at it again, this time putting UW up 10-1 and forcing a Buckeye timeout. Right off the timeout, Nelson pummeled her seventh and final kill of the match.

A kill from senior outside hitter Ellen Chapman put Wisconsin up 17-5, which would be their largest lead of the match.

A 11-6 run by Ohio State cut the Badgers lead to 23-17, but Wisconsin responded with kills from Thomas and freshman outside hitter Kelli Bates to seal the win.

For Thomas, Sunday’s match was a rebound performance after struggling against Penn State last week, a match in which she only had one kill and a -.167 hitting percentage. She finished Sunday with a match high 11 kills and hit .360.

“I didn’t lose much confidence after Penn State … I’m not always gonna have a great game,” Thomas said. “The next game gives me the opportunity to bounce back … I knew this match I was gonna have a good game.”

Early in the match, senior middle-blocker Dominique Thompson dominated the attacking middle of the court. Sophomore setter Lauren Carlini would set it quickly to Thompson and then she would attack off the quick set before the defense could respond. Nine of her 11 kills came in the first two sets of the match. She also hit for a match high .391.

“I think we all were very focused,” Thompson said. “We wanted to get out of this little losing streak we were in and we wanted to come out hard today and show everybody what we could actually do.”

Her first kill sparked a 3-0 run by Wisconsin in the first set, putting UW up 6-3. From there, OSU would never get closer than two or fall behind by more than three until back-to-back kills by Chapman and Nelson put the Badgers up 19-13. OSU cut the lead to 23-19, but a service ace by the Buckeyes and a Chapman kill finished off the set.

Thompson was the spark again in the second set. With UW holding a 4-3 lead, Thompson’s kill sparked a 4-0 run the Buckeyes couldn’t recover from. Thompson and Bates also combined for a key block during that run to put the Badgers up 7-3.

From there Wisconsin never lead by more than four but didn’t allow OSU to come within three until UW went up 21-15 following a Chapman kill and an OSU attacking error. Nelson polished off the second set with a kill and an ace after OSU had pulled with four once at 23-19.

Eleven Badgers saw the court Sunday. Senior defensive specialist Caroline Workman saw increased playing time because of her serving ability. She notched an ace in the third set.

Carlini racked up 36 assists in the match and had two serving aces. She also dug nine balls. She was instrumental in exploiting the middle of the court, whether it was Nelson and Thompson in the early going or Thomas at the end.

“That was definitely part of our game plan, to attack the middle part of the court,” Carlini said. “I think overall our hitters had a great day.”

Wisconsin outhit OSU .266 to .123.

Taylor Morey returned to her typical form in the match. After accumulating only nine digs against Penn State Wednesday night, the junior libero had a match high 22 digs against Ohio State.

After losing to No. 3 Penn State and No. 5 Washington in back-to-back matches, Sheffield feels that this win says a lot about his team’s resolve.

“I think we’ve got players that take pride in coming back,” Sheffield said. “I think we’ve got players that take pride in, individually, if they have a tough match, of making sure that doesn’t stretch on. I think we’ve got players that take pride in that, if things don’t go the way we want it to in a match, they’re gonna make sure that they come back with strength.”