Wednesday night Wisconsin’s volleyball team continued its seven match winning streak with yet another 3-0 sweep, as the Badgers took down the Iowa Hawkeyes, 25-15, 25-22, 25-19.
But it did not always come easy.
During the first set, the Badgers dominated the scoreboard. They never tied or gave up any type of lead against the Hawkeyes.
Wisconsin started out with its typical fast-paced and aggressive game as middle blocker Haleigh Nelson and outside hitter Ellen Chapman combined for a block. Nelson followed her dual block with a kill off a slide. Setter Lauren Carlini served an ace, and in a quick span of a few rallies, the Badgers were up 3-0 in the first set.
“I like what I saw from my team tonight,” Wisconsin head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “I thought for the most part we played a pretty strong game and at the end of the day that’s what you’re wanting. I like the mindset that my team showed up with tonight. [I’m] proud of them.”
The first set was put away with a 10-4 run in favor of the Wisconsin.
The second set was an entirely different story. There were a total of four ties and three lead changes between the Badgers and Hawkeyes. A service ace by Julianne Blomberg gave Iowa its first lead of the evening. This was right side hitter Courtney Thomas’ first and only error of any kind throughout the first two sets. Thomas finished the match leading the team with 11 kills hitting at .318 percent and passed for 90 percent.
“When I make two hitting errors, I’m telling Lauren [Carlini] to set me the ball, especially if it’s in a rally when I don’t score, or when I get blocked,” Thomas said. “She knows that I’m not going to allow them to dig me or block me [again].”
A kill from Thomas tied the set at five points each in the second set and sent Nelson back to the serving line.
After her first serve, an aggressive dig from Nelson in the back row lead to a battle at the net and resulted in a big block from Dominique Thompson and Thomas against Lauren Brobst, one of the Hawkeyes’ best hitters. This pushed the Badgers to a 5-4 lead, and a seven point serving run from Nelson. The 6-3 middle blocker had five digs over the course of the match, although it was apparent that she was scrambling and picking up a lot of balls on defense.
“[Nelson]’s working really hard,” Sheffield said. “She’s getting some control right now and making some good reads and good plays. It’s party on the sideline when she’s digging like she was tonight.”
A few attacking errors from the Badgers alongside some kills by Hawkeye middle blocker Jess Janota helped Iowa climb its way to a three point deficit in the second set as Wisconsin called a timeout with a score of 19-16. Back-to-back kills by Thomas brought Wisconsin within five points of victory when Taylor Alm answered with three kills within the next four points raising the score to 23-21 in the third set. Thomas pulled out a kill at match point to solidify the second set for the Badgers, 25-22.
The third set started with an ace by Wisconsin’s libero Taylor Morey, starting the final set on a positive note. However, the Badgers started to fall slightly behind the Hawkeyes after a 3-3 tie followed by two Hawkeye kills, which gave Iowa a 5-3 lead.
However, a kill from Nelson’s kicked Wisconsin’s play into high gear. After her kill, Nelson went to the back line to serve for seven more points. She served a total of 18 serves with two service aces and no errors. When Nelson’s run ended, Wisconsin had claimed the lead by five points with a score of 11-6 in the third set.
“Tonight I just tried to go in with a different mindset,” Nelson said. “Like Kelly [Sheffield] said, I can be a little ‘fluffy’ back there behind the service line, but tonight I cleared my mind a little more and just decided to go for it.”
The Hawkeyes did not go down without a fight as they clawed their way back into the third set trailing 19-17 after a trio of kills from Janota. Wisconsin was able to cap off the match with a 3-0 sweep after a kill from Nelson and a hitting error by Iowa that ultimately ended the third set.
The victory moved the Badgers to 17-2 overall this season with a 8-1 mark in the Big Ten. The 3-0 defeat of the Hawkeyes also gave UW their fifth-straight win that came in the form of a sweep. Wisconsin last lost a set on Oct. 4 at Illinois, and have only dropped one set combined dating back to Sept. 28.
The Badgers will play again Sunday afternoon against the No. 14 Nebraska Cornhuskers (12-6 overall, 5-3 Big Ten) at 4 p.m. at the UW Field House.
