[media-credit name=’Derek Montgomery’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Thanks in part to a game-one comeback, the Wisconsin volleyball team will advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2001. UW fought off nine game points in the first game and went on to defeat Notre Dame 3-0 at the Field House Saturday. Sophomore Maria Carlini hammered a match-high 15 kills as the Badgers swept the Fighting Irish 36-34, 30-16, 30-16. With the win, Wisconsin moves on to an NCAA regional showdown in Green Bay against No. 3 Hawaii.

The Badgers staged an improbable rally in the match’s opening game. Down 29-23, Wisconsin reeled off six consecutive points and evened the score on a solo block by Aubrey Meierotto.

“We got stuck in a rotation and didn’t side out,” Notre Dame head coach Debbie Brown said. “We needed one side out to win the game. We got stuck in a rotation, and when we finally got out of it, Wisconsin had enough wind in their sails to continue.”

After UW had come all the way back, Notre Dame would retake a one-point lead four times, but was unable to put Wisconsin away. The Irish took their final lead of the game at 33-32, but quickly lost it as Carlini shut down Ashley Tarutis’ attack with a solo block. Finally, Shaw gave the Badgers a 35-34 edge with a block.

“Actually, to tell you the truth I wasn’t paying attention to the score,” Shaw said. “We just wanted to stop the ball at the net every time.”

Carlini, who began the rally with a kill, ended it by putting away a Notre Dame overpass for game point.

“I honestly cannot remember one personally as a coach, where we came back when it was 29 and you’re down by six,” UW head coach Pete Waite said. “That’s really tough to do.”

Deflated following the late-game collapse, the Fighting Irish were unable to stay with the Badgers the rest of the way. With its block suffocating the Notre Dame offense, Wisconsin quickly took control of the second game by jumping out to an 8-2 lead. Carlini, who had watched parts of game one from the bench after struggling early, racked up seven kills in the second game alone, as UW won 30-16.

“The coaches just told me to shake it off and not to focus so much on my mistakes,” said Carlini, who also hit .367 in the match. “I was really tentative at the beginning and that was forcing me to shank the ball.”

Game three was more of the same. After the Fighting Irish had closed to within two at 10-8, the Badgers went on an 11-1 run to blow the game open. That stretch was capped by three consecutive Notre Dame hitting errors. Senior Marian Weidner made her final swing at the Field House count, as she slammed match point into the Irish back row and sent the Badgers to the Sweet 16.

“That first game was critical,” Waite said. “Our kids just dug deep and kept battling, and the crowd kept them in there. Winning that was huge for us because after that I think Notre Dame really struggled keeping up with us and staying with the pace of the game.”

Wisconsin out-hit Notre Dame .285 to negative .015 in the match and out-blocked the Fighting Irish 15.5 to 8.0. Shaw led UW with eight total blocks. The 6-foot-1 middle also added 14 kills to the Badger attack and hit at a .429 clip. Senior opposite hitter Jill Odenthal added nine kills and a .353 percentage.

Freshman libero Jocelyn Wack led Wisconsin’s defensive efforts with a match-high 16 digs. Carlini and Meierotto joined her in double figures with 13 and 12 digs, respectively.

Notre Dame, which ends its season with a 21-9 record, was led by Lauren Brewster’s 13 kills.

“We’re certainly disappointed,” Brown said. “We didn’t want our season to be over at this point, as nobody does. I just give a lot of credit to Wisconsin for a really well-played match.”

Wisconsin began NCAA tournament play Friday with a 30-27, 30-26, 30-25 sweep of Loyola (Ill.). While UW emerged with a three-game victory, a feisty Loyola squad pushed the No. 14-seeded Badgers in each game. Odenthal spurred the Wisconsin offense with 12 kills, while Shaw added 10.

“I was telling everybody that I saw all week that Loyola is a good team,” Waite said. “We respected everything they did on the court tonight because they really made us work in this match. I was also really proud of our team. They stepped up to any surges Loyola came at us with.”

UW (21-9), which has now recorded 11-straight 20-win seasons, will take on the No. 3 seed Rainbow Wahine (30-0) of Hawaii Friday at the Resch Center in Green Bay.