The Wisconsin volleyball team ended the Georgia Tech Invitational with a pair of wins and almost had a third. Despite winning the first two games, the No. 24 Badgers could not stop fifth-ranked Georgia Tech Friday. The Yellow Jackets edged the Badgers 24-30, 31-33, 30-26, 30-27 and 15-10 in the first round of the tournament.

“This is the best we’ve played this season,” head coach Pete Waite said. “It’s unfortunate that we lost, but it was an awesome match.”

Middle blockers Sheila Shaw and Amy Bladow had career nights, recording all-time bests of 24 and 14 kills, respectively. Shaw hit a match-high 47.5 percent while Bladow connected on a career-high 41.7 percent of her attacks. Marian Weidner had 19 kills for the Badgers, while Aubrey Meierotto had 14 kills and only one hitting error. Jill Odenthal added 13 kills.

Morgan Shields “set the best of the season so far,” according Waite. The senior had 75 assists, only one off her career best, while playing with an injured right wrist.

Wisconsin outblocked Tech 9-7, led by a career-high five from Bladow. Meierotto tied her career high with four blocks, including two solos.

The Badgers came out strong in the match despite a capacity crowd of 1,411 in Tech’s home gym. Wisconsin led by as much as seven (25-18) in game one while holding off three Yellow Jacket game points in game two. A kill by Shaw and a block from Bladow and Shields put the Badgers up two games to none.

“It was a great environment,” said Waite of the crowd. “It was a lot smaller place than ours — only 1400 people — but it was maybe twice as loud because it was such a compact gym.”

After an 11-11 tie in game three, UW fell behind, 16-12, and could never get closer than one, 20-19, for the rest of the match. Game four was similar to the third match-up, with Tech leading by as much as six, 27-21, before Wisconsin battled back to within one, 27-26. The Badgers couldn’t stop the Jacket offense, sending the match to the deciding fifth game.

Wisconsin led by two, 7-5, but errors cost the Badgers as Tech pulled ahead 8-7. The Badgers would lead 9-8, but three kills from Lauren Sauer, who led all hitters with 30 kills, and two UW service errors gave the Yellow Jackets the match.

“While we took a loss, it was to the fifth-ranked team in the country and that’s what we were looking for this weekend,” Waite said. “We wanted to come out and compete well where we hadn’t against Pepperdine and Washington.”

UW got back on the winning track with a win over South Florida early Saturday. The Badgers swept the Bulls 30-27, 30-27, 30-26.

Wisconsin had three players in double-figure kills, led by 13 each from Odenthal and Marian Weidner. Meierotto added 11 kills as the Badgers finished with a 49-41 advantage in kills. Meierotto and Sheila Shaw shared match-high honors with four blocks apiece.

Lisa Zukowski recorded double-figure digs with 11, while Morgan Shields added nine digs. Shields also put up 40 assists.

Wisconsin wrapped up its weekend of competition with a win over Western Carolina on Saturday. The Badgers (8-3) swept the Catamounts 30-15, 30-17, 30-22.

“Western Carolina was a good match for us [because] we were able to get a number of people in, including Katie Lancing-Lorenzen setting as well as Lindsey Boler, Angie Sanger and Kirin Swanson,” said Waite. “We were actually able to get everyone on the team in during this weekend, so that’s good for us down the road.”

Twelve of the Badgers’ 13 athletes played in the match. Waite started Zukowski at outside hitter instead of at libero, and the senior responded with a match-high 11 kills. Jill Odenthal added 10 kills as Wisconsin finished with a 45-27 advantage in kills.

Wisconsin had a season-high 11 blocks, including a career-high seven block assists from freshman Maria Carlini, who started at middle blocker in place of Bladow.

Meierotto and Zukowski were both named to the all-tournament team. It was Meierotto’s third all-tournament selection of the season and Zukowski’s second selection of the season.

“We’re really happy with how we put things together this weekend, especially against a top team like Georgia Tech,” Waite said. “Heading into Big Ten play, we feel confident with the way our lineup is playing and how we’re playing as a team.”