The Wisconsin volleyball team ended its first conference road trip one for two this weekend, losing to Michigan State then rebounding to defeat Michigan.

The No. 20 Badgers dropped their first Big Ten match of the season to the No. 14 Spartans last Friday. State downed the Badgers 30-16, 24-30, 30-28, 30-22. It is the first time since 1999 that they have defeated Wisconsin.

UW had four players in double figure kills but so did the Spartans. Jill Odenthal led the Badgers with 16 kills while Sheila Shaw added 14. Lisa Zukowski put down 13 kills and Aubrey Meierotto recorded 12.

Kim Schram led the Spartans (10-4, 2-2) with 22 kills while Jenny Rood had 15 kills. Megan Wallin and Brooke Langston put down 11 and 10 kills, respectively, as MSU outhit Wisconsin 71-65.

“In the last three years, I’ve never seen a Michigan State team play that well,” head coach Pete Waite. “They were touching a lot of balls and really clicking offensively.”

The Spartans shut down the Badgers’ attack in game one as Wisconsin hit just .029.

Maria Carlini, starting in place of Amy Bladow, gave the Badgers a needed lift in game two. The game was tied 16 times, including at 21-21 before the UW took control. A Shaw kill tied the match at a game apiece heading into the locker room.

The Spartans led 25-20 in game three before the Badgers started to rally behind Odenthal. The junior had three kills to pull Wisconsin within two, 27-25. A Shaw kill pulled Wisconsin to within 29-28 but a hitting error from Amy Bladow gave the Spartans the game.

“It was a tough road loss. We really had an opportunity to win game three and just fell short,” Waite said. “I think that was a big momentum shift for us. I think that we were on a good roll, but a couple of bad breaks and some tough decisions on the offense really shifted the game.”

Game four was close early with nine ties including at 13-13 but the Spartan attack took over. Rood had five straight kills to put MSU up 26-17. Wisconsin would cut it to 28-22 off a Zukowski kill but couldn’t hold off the front-row play of the home team.

It took five games but Wisconsin improved to 3-1 in Big Ten Conference play with a win at Michigan the next night. The Badgers (11-4 overall) downed the Wolverines 30-32, 30-27, 29-31, 30-21, 15-13. UW has now won 14 straight matches over Michigan.

“This was a great win on the road. We were up and down, and we actually had control of games (two) and three,” Waite said. “We could have won the match in three games; unfortunately we made some critical errors at bad times and let them back in the match.”

The Badgers had four players in double-figure kills, led by 21 each from Odenthal and Meierotto. Shaw added 17 kills and led all hitters with a .414 hitting percentage while Zukowski added 12 kills.

The Badgers continued to win, outserving opponents and finishing with an 11-5 advantage in service aces. Shaw recorded a career-high six aces, including four straight in game one, to led the team. Wisconsin still struggled with errors, recording 17.

Shields put up 72 assists running the Badger offense.

The Badgers rallied from a 5-9 deficit in game one behind the play of Shaw. The middle blocker teamed with Meierotto on a block and had four straight service aces to put the UW up 13-10. The game was tied at 30 before a kill and ace from Erin Moore gave the Wolverines the win.

Game two featured seven early ties including at 12-12 before the Badgers scored five straight points including three off kills from Meierotto to go up 17-12. Wisconsin needed two game points before Wolverine service ace tied the match.

Michigan led by seven points twice in game three, but Wisconsin outscored the Wolverines 8-1 to tie the score at 28. A Meierotto kill put the Badgers up 29-28, but a Shields service error tied the game again. Two consecutive UW hitting errors put Michigan up two games to one.

Wisconsin jumped out to a 9-5 lead in Game four and never looked back.

Neither team led by more than two points in game five and the match up featured nine ties. Michigan broke an 11-11 tie to take a 13-11 lead but kills from Odenthal and Zukowski evened it up again. Another Odenthal kill followed by Michigan’s Gandolph hitting the ball wide on the right side gave the Badgers the win.

“I think that it said a lot for our team coming back after a loss against Michigan State,” Coach Waite added. “It was a great team effort.”

-compiled from staff reports