Last Friday night, the No. 10-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team was able to avoid Northwestern's upset bid after being pushed to five games.

Part of the reason Wisconsin was able to pull out the victory was a career night by outside hitter Brittney Dolgner. The freshman led all players with 30 kills, becoming the first Badger to top the 30-kill total since All-American Sherisa Livingston had 31 kills against UCLA in December 2000.

"She was the one that carried us in the match on Friday," UW head coach Pete Waite said. "We really needed her out there, and she came through like a veteran."

Because of her superb play, Dolgner has emerged as a candidate for Big Ten's freshman of the year.

"I think [Dolgner] should definitely get some votes for [freshman of the year]," Waite said. "(Megan) Hodge has done a great job for Penn State. I would say those are the two that stand out.

"She is really coming on strong here late in the season and putting up some huge numbers. She put up 30 kills on Friday, which is the first time for any player, any year on our team for the last six years probably. That's pretty good on her part."

So far on the year Dolgner leads the team with 4.09 kills per game, good for 10th highest in the Big Ten. She has also topped double-digit kills 18 times this year, including a streak of 12 straight matches.

"I knew [Dolgner would] be good, but I didn't think she'd be putting up these kind of numbers," Waite said. "She started kind of slow and even had some shoulder problems … even though she was used to taking a lot of swings, she had to hit it a lot harder in the college game. Once she figured that out and got healthy, her game has been coming around."

And Dolgner has also improved in other areas of her game — mainly her blocking.

"Now even her blocking is coming around," Waite said. "That's the area she was probably weakest coming in because you don't have the opportunity in high school to have to block such big hitters."

Back in the race
Thanks to Penn State losing two of their last six matches — including a sweep by the Badgers — the Big Ten is still up for grabs and is no longer only a battle for second place.

"Penn State started the first half of the Big Ten season running away from everybody," Waite said. "Nobody thought they could catch them. It was just a second place race after that.

"Since we beat Penn State and Ohio State beat Penn State it's all tight now. We have to take care of the rest of our matches here, and somebody's got to help us by beating Penn State, but we're right there."

Wisconsin has gotten hot at the right time of the year. Since their last meeting with Minnesota Oct. 18 — where the Gophers swept the Badgers — Wisconsin has gone on to win seven straight matches while only dropping a total of five games in that stretch.

"Our ball control and our serving has definitely gotten better," Waite said of the Badger's improvement. "Between that and just the balance of our attack, we've been deep, and we've been four or five players strong in double-digit kills and that's great."

Wisconsin has also shown they can win despite not being on their A-game, after being stretched to five games against Northwestern and dropping another game against Illinois.

"They had to come through and had to fight hard when things weren't always clicking," Waite said of the victories this past weekend. "That's important for a team to show that they can stand up and put down an opponent's best play when they are off their game. If they can still get the wins, then I'm pretty happy about it."

Part of the reason for the Badgers' recent success is the play of junior setter Jackie Simpson.

"[Simpson has] made the biggest rise in her play," Waite said. "She has gained the most confidence in the last month."

Because of her good play recently, Simpson was named the Big Ten Player of the Week and the AVCA National Player of the Week following the Penn State and Ohio State matches.

"There is something with the combination [of] what the coaches are doing as far as teaching [Simpson], training her, the tape we are watching with her and just her making the effort to make the corrections she has been working on for the last two years," Waite said. "It's been fun. As a coach, when they can take off, at that point then it is just something she'll do naturally. When she does that she disperses the ball to any hitter on the court, front row or back row, in front of her or behind her, and it's really hard for the opponents to stop. That's where the balanced attack has come."

Wisconsin adds two for next year
The Badgers signed two recruits to National Letters of Intent last week in Allison Wack and Kim Kuzma.

Wack is the younger sister of current Badger libero Jocelyn Wack. She led her high school, Westosha Central, to three division I WIAA state titles.

"[Allison] is an outside hitter a lot like [Jocelyn. She's] a little bit bigger, a little bit bigger jump," Waite said. "She's got a cannon for an arm."

In Kuzma the Badgers are getting a defensive specialist who can also put down the ball, as she broke her high school's record for kills and digs.

"[Kuzma's] a tough, feisty competitor," Waite said. "She's the kind of kid that makes players around her better. It's not just her play, but … her attitude and the way she will drag them along to the high level."