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This weekend, the University of Wisconsin volleyball team was able to get back on track, beating Michigan in a five-set victory on Friday and sweeping Ohio State Sunday afternoon.

Against the Buckeyes, the Badgers were led by senior outside hitter Morgan Salow, who had 13 kills and a .611 hitting percentage coming off the bench. Senior middle blocker Audra Jeffers also contributed eight kills, which led to Wisconsin beating Ohio State in straight sets to improve its record to 12-4 overall and 2-2 in conference play.

“I am so excited with how the team just meshed well today and everybody was just on,” Salow said. “Everything felt good about today, and I think our passing was really good.”

The Buckeyes showed the biggest challenge to Wisconsin in the first set by both out-hitting and out-blocking the Badgers, but still lost 28- 26. Ohio State was led by junior outside hitter Anna Szerszen, who had nine kills and a .562 hitting percentage. However, the Badgers were able to adjust their defense to compensate for the French native’s success.

“It was very tough to stop her,” Wisconsin head coach Pete Waite said. “She was hitting it down the pipe and doing very well. But we made some adjustments there. I think they at least stop going to it. I think our serving at times was good enough where they were pulling the server off the net, and they needed to change their setter in the third set, which is great. It means they were confused over there a little bit.”

The Badgers continued to dominate the next two sets thanks to good blocking and passing. Wisconsin held Ohio State to a .107 hitting percentage in the second set and .071 in the third while out-blocking them 5-3. Meanwhile, their offense continued to fire on all cylinders, hitting above .400 in the last two sets.

“We are just starting to mesh well,” sophomore libero Kim Kuzma said. “We switched the lineup a little bit, and I think it worked very well. I think we are having fun.”

Friday night’s match against Michigan tested Wisconsin more than Ohio State did Sunday.

The Badgers dropped the first two sets against the Wolverines before winning the next three to take the match. During the first two sets, Wisconsin accumulated 10 of 11 service errors and had only three blocks.

“It was not looking good in the first two,” Waite said. “We were not playing with confidence. We were not playing aggressively. We came down to the locker room after the second set, and we told them to go after it because we had nothing to lose and we wanted to get the crowd involved and make it fun. You can see they just kept building and building, and it was fun to watch the finish.”

Coming out of the locker room after the second set, the Badgers were able to fight back. Jeffers accounted for five kills to add to her career-high 18. The defense also came around, limiting the Wolverines under a .220 hitting percentage for the rest of the match. Sophomore setter Nikki Klingsporn added to the improved defense with a career-high 13 digs.

“We went down in the locker room, and we just said believe in each other and believe in the team,” Jeffers said. “Everyone has got each other’s back. Just go out there and be aggressive with everything you do.”

Waite said it was the team’s confidence that helped them reduce their service errors and get back into the game. As the final three sets progressed, the team passed better, which allowed Jeffers to achieve her career day. Wisconsin also made a more concerted effort getting the ball to junior outside hitter Brittney Dolgner, who contributed 16 kills of her own.

“Everything comes with confidence,” Waite said. “Once you have confidence and you are still going after it, those things will work. They just had to keep plugging away. We knew it was all in there, in terms of the talent of this group, and they found a balance.”

The Badgers go back on the road this week, facing Northwestern in Evanston on Wednesday and traveling to East Lansing to play the Michigan State Spartans on Friday.