[media-credit name=’Ben Smidt’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]For the first time since 1987, the Wisconsin volleyball team has started the Big Ten season 0-2. The Badgers (6-4) dropped matches to No.4 Penn State Sunday and No.20 Ohio State Friday, the first time since 1995 UW has suffered back-to-back home losses. Coincidentally enough, those defeats came at the hands of Ohio State and Penn State.

Sunday, the Badgers fell in three games to the Nittany Lions (11-0) by the scores of 30-19, 30-26, 30-28. Three PSU hitters finished with double digit kills: Ashley Pederson and Kate Price, each of whom finished with 14, and Syndie Nadeau, who recorded 10. Jill Odenthal (10 kills) was the only Badger in double figures.

“I’m really disappointed in the way we played today,” Wisconsin head coach Pete Waite said. “We didn’t come to compete, we just saw some glimpses of what we’re capable of in the third game and I don’t have an explanation for the way we played.”

Game one was tied at 17 until Penn State reeled off five straight points to grab a 22-17 advantage, part of a 13-2 run that closed out the game.

The Nittany Lions once again pulled away in the middle of game two, opening up a 20-15 lead and sailing to a 30-26 victory. Price tallied five kills in the game.

Wisconsin fought until the end in the third and final game, but fell short despite recording 7.0 blocks. The back and forth battle was tied as late as 28-28, but a Weidner service error and a kill from Price sealed the Badgers’ fate.

“It’s a great win for us — to be able to come into Madison and win a match, whether it’s three, four or five games,” Penn State head coach Russ Rose said. “It’s a great venue for volleyball and it’s always a warm crowd and a competitive environment. So, we feel very fortunate to come in and come out with a victory.”

Friday night, UW fell victim to service errors and the standout play of Ohio State’s All-American outside hitter, Stacy Gordon. The Badgers shot themselves in the foot by committing 15 service errors, while Gordon racked up 27 kills in the Buckeyes’ 30-20, 23-30, 30-18, 30-24 win.

“We were not on our serving game,” Waite said. “I think they beat us in every category. They played very consistently. We were not consistent from the beginning to the end. That’s something I’ve said about this team from the very beginning: we have [to] be more consistent. This isn’t just about being young. It’s about seniors, juniors, sophomore, freshmen, everybody playing consistently. We did not tonight.”

The match began with Ohio State (12-0) hitting .378 in game one. The Badgers fell behind early and could not recover. They led once at 8-7 after an Aubrey Meierotto kill, but quickly coughed up the lead on a service error from Sheila Shaw. OSU went on to win by 10 at 30-20.

The Badgers bounced back in game two behind the play of Odenthal, who recorded five kills. After breaking a 10-10 tie, UW would lead for the remainder of the game. Wisconsin held an advantage as large as nine, and took the game by the score of 30-23.

The loss did not faze Ohio State, which responded by recording a blistering .514 hitting percentage in the third game. Wisconsin trailed the entire game and Gordon slammed the door by recording the final three OSU points in a 30-18 win.

“We showed some great signs of some excellent volleyball last week, but it’s a whole different level when you play the Big Ten teams,” Waite said. “It shouldn’t have been a shock to anybody. We know what Stacy Gordon brings.”

Facing defeat in game four, the Badgers hung tough for half the game, but could not stay with the Buckeyes down the stretch. UW could come no closer than 18-16. Fittingly, it was Gordon who put away match point to give the victory to OSU.

“We just have to come to every practice, every day ready to not have another weekend like this and to come out as a unit,” said Odenthal, who became the 13th Badger in school history to tally 1,000 career kills over the weekend. “I felt everybody at times had a good couple plays, but we’re definitely not clicking. We’ve just got to get a flow. We’ve got to find it somehow.”

The weekend proved to be a major disappointment for a Wisconsin team fresh off an impressive performance at the InnTowner Invitational, in which it won three matches without losing a game. The Badgers will now turn their attention to Wednesday’s matchup with Northwestern.

“It’s hard to find positives because we’ve shown in other matches — our last home tournament — that we’re capable of some great things,” Waite said. “But, as a group they have to show when they walk in the gym, they’re capable of playing at a high level every time. That comes in so many categories: serve receive, ball control, just scrambling and fighting for points.”