The Badgers buried the Golden Gophers in a 3-0 sweep for the second time this week, this time on their home court at the University of Wisconsin Field House Saturday night.
Although No. 5 Wisconsin dominated Wednesday’s previous rivalry match (25-16, 25-19, 30-28) in the Twin Cities Wednesday night, No. 23 Minnesota did everything it could to keep up with the Badgers, especially during the third set where the Gophers lost by just two points.
Saturday night, Wisconsin’s middle blockers were relentless in the front court on defense. The Badgers can credit their second-straight victory to their intense blocking and aggressive net play.
The blocking numbers can be somewhat deceptive early in the match. Wisconsin had many touches and block attempts, but no point-earning blocks occurred until the final two rallies of the first set. The Badgers capped off the Border Battle with nine team blocks compared to the Gophers’ five.
“I don’t think our blocking was as bad as the numbers were saying early, and I’m not sure our block is quite as good as what it’s showing now,” head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “I think our block is somewhere in between.”
There was a bit of a dry spell for the Badgers as Wisconsin went almost the entire first set without a block until the final two points, when the combined efforts of sophomore Haleigh Nelson and senior Courtney Thomas earned the Badgers their 24th point. Senior Ellen Chapman put set one in the bag for Wisconsin with a solo block against senior Adrianna Nora of Minnesota.
The Badgers’ net presence continued throughout the match and became a strong component during the second and third sets. As the Badger’s blocking became more effective, the Gopher’s offense began to make more mistakes.
“When the other team gets frustrated, they just start doing whatever,” Sheffield said.
Errors became a common theme for the Gophers, as their leading-hitter Daly Santana had seven kills and eight errors on only 24 attempts in the first two sets. Wisconsin’s blockers shut down Santana in the second set, preventing three of her hits from even crossing the net. Santana also committed three hitting errors of her own. With Santana’s struggles throughout the first two sets, Minnesota head coach Hugh McCutcheon decided not to play Santana during the third set.
“I think [our middle blockers] were really effective tonight,” Wisconsin setter Lauren Carlini said. “I think they were really upset with their performance the other night; I know at least Haleigh was. This is a little bit of redemption.”
Nelson finished the match with 10 kills and six block-assists compared to her six kills and six block-assists during Wednesday’s road match. Even though Nelson’s statistics from Wednesday look good on paper, her six kills were not easily earned, as the Minnesota defense gave her a more difficult time at the net. Nelson broke down Minnesota’s blocking barriers Saturday as she beat Minnesota middle blockers Paige Tapp and Hannah Tapp multiple times off of the slide.
However, Nelson reinforced that she would not have received her six blocks without the assistance of her teammates.
“I give a lot of credit to our pin blockers too,” Nelson said. “They put up a solid set up and they made it easy to close. Their hands being in the right places makes our job a lot easier.”
Minnesota native and Wisconsin senior middle blocker Dominique Thompson mentioned that she and Nelson have been pushing each other and working hard to improve their team’s blocking. Wisconsin’s blocking is currently ranked 123rd in the country.
“Haleigh and I both talked about it and decided we wanted to change where we are placed in the Big Ten for blocks,” Thompson said. “We are definitely determined to do that. It is something that we definitely do talk about, we are trying to change and fix it.”
Thompson completed Saturday’s game with six kills and two block-assists against her home-state representatives. Despite her self-criticism, Thompson was pleased with the outcome Saturday night and the two straight-set wins against the Gophers in four days.
“It feels great,” Thompson said. “After winning at Minnesota it was a great feeling. Being able to come here and take care of business is a great feeling. It makes me really happy I’m at Wisconsin.”
Wisconsin’s coaches and the players themselves constantly push the Badgers every week as they focus on new areas for improvement. With only two losses so far this season and a six-game winning streak within the Big Ten, Wisconsin will seek to keep improving on both its play and its best winning streak since 2007 when it takes on Iowa at the Field House Wednesday.
