The No. 4 Wisconsin volleyball team opened its postseason run Thursday night with a sweep of Western Michigan (25-9, 26-24, 25-10) at the UW Field House in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Wisconsin (29-2, 19-1 Big Ten) won its 20th-straight match in a row against a Western Michigan (22-14, 9-7 MAC) team that had won the MAC Tournament to gain a tournament berth and came into the Wednesday’s match leading all of Division I in total assists (1,742) and total kills (1,852).
“We’re moving on,” UW head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “So we’re happy about that.”
The second set proved to be a challenge for top-ranked Wisconsin, and it seemed like a completely different Western Michigan team had taken the court than the one UW saw in the first set. With the score tied 8-8, the Broncos went on a 3-0 run to take a lead they would hold until Wisconsin tied it up at 20-20.
Trailing by two, a pair of kills from UW sophomore middle blocker Haleigh Nelson and senior outside hitter Ellen Chapman brought the Badgers even. Following a Western Michigan timeout, Chapman had another kill and Nelson and Thomas combined for a block to give the Badgers a 22-20 edge.
But the Broncos would battle back. They tied it at 23 and fought off the first Wisconsin set-point to tie it at 24, but kills from UW senior middle blocker Dominique Thompson put the Badgers back up and the set ended on an attacking error by the Broncos.
“Credit Western Michigan,” Sheffield said. “After getting pretty lopsided in the first, they came back and right from the beginning of game two they showed an awful lot of fight. And they were doing that at the end of their season, and we expected it out of them.”
Much like the first set, the Badgers cruised to a third-set win to advance to the second round of the tournament.
“I thought our girls gave it a great fight,” Western Michigan head coach Colleen Munson said. “Point for point, we were right there with them.”
“They really brought everything they had tonight,” Nelson said of the Broncos. “Things were going our way in the first set and we were taking care of our assignments. Then in the second set they changed up a bit and we didn’t respond the way that we should’ve. We just didn’t pick up on it quick enough. It was good for us to still be able to grind out a win even though we weren’t making the assignments that we should have.”
Wisconsin sophomore setter Lauren Carlini’s all-around performance paved the way for the Badger victory. Carlini had match-highs in assists (33) assists and digs (20). With her playing defense, Thomas assumed setting responsibilities on several occasions, which is something that allows for the Badgers to remain in sync, Carlini said.
“Twenty digs for a setter, I mean, that’s pretty sick,” Sheffield said with the Big Ten Player of the Year Carlini next to him at the podium.
“I think it just helps momentum for the team,” Carlini said of her versatility on the court. “With me digging and Courtney [Thomas] being able to set every ball and us staying in system, it’s just a huge advantage to us. Obviously it helps offensive numbers and I was just trying to keep balls in play.”
Behind five kills from senior Thomas and four kills from Chapman, as well Carlini’s serving, UW jumped out to a 7-0 run to start the match and never looked back. Carlini served two aces in that stretch.
“Lauren got us going off pretty early, moving the ball around serving and hitting her zones and putting a lot of pressure on them,” Sheffield said. “Defensively we were digging and we were converting.”
Nelson and Chapman each had a match-high 11 kills, while Thompson added six and Thomas added nine. UW outhit Western Michigan .327-.053.
Next up for the Badgers is Illinois State, which has won its last 23 matches, with the latest coming against Marquette in the first opening-round matchup at the UW Field House Thursday. They trailed the match 2-0, but wouldn’t go down, pulling out a five-set victory.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Illinois State head coach Melissa Myers said of playing the Badgers. “Who wouldn’t want to play a ranked team at this stage? You would expect to play great times. So we’re excited. We’re pumped. We know how good they are, but we’re gonna see how good they are tomorrow night.”
First-serve between the Redbirds and the Badgers is set for 7 p.m. at the UW Field House Friday night.
