The No. 21 Wisconsin Badgers (12-5, 4-2) earned a series split this weekend, defeating Iowa before falling to Minnesota in a highly anticipated Sunday matchup.
UW began the weekend by cruising to a 30-24, 30-19, 30-23 victory over Iowa.
After an early 4-4 tie in game one, the Badgers opened up an 11-5 lead thanks to three kills from sophomore Sheila Shaw and four Hawkeye attack errors. Iowa twice cut the lead to two, at 13-11 and 23-11, but that was as close as they came. Sophomore Aubrey Meierotto hammered down the final three points, and UW took the first game. Shaw finished the game with seven kills.
Iowa bounced back in game two, jumping out to a 7-3 early lead. Wisconsin came back to tie it up at eight, then took the lead for good at 13-12 after a kill by Shaw. Freshman Maria Carlini played in place of junior Jill Odenthal, who was able to rest a sore arch and recorded three kills to go along with seven digs.
In addition to Odenthal, head coach Pete Waite was also able to rest Meierotto in game three, as junior Marian Weidner got the start. The Badgers’ lead was as large as 10. They completed the three-game sweep with a seven-point win. Weidner’s seven kills were a game-high.
“I thought it was a good win heading into a big match Sunday against Minnesota,” Waite said. “Iowa’s a tough team to play sometimes; they throw a lot of different lineups at you and have a different tempo than a lot of teams play. There were times when we weren’t really in synch, but I think we played at a pace and got our team together well enough to come out with a win.”
Senior libero Jill Maier had a career-high 19 digs in the win, and freshman middle blocker Amy Bladow matched her best with eight blocks. Offensively, Shaw and senior captain Lisa Zukowski led the way with 13 and 11 kills respectively.
“Obviously it’s a good win. Every team in the Big Ten is going to show up to play,” Maier said. “I think it just puts us in a positive attitude; we got some momentum built tonight.”
The Badgers had hoped to carry that momentum into a big match against rival Minnesota but fell in a competitive five-game match (30-27, 26-30, 22-30, 30-23, 11-15).
The match started off positively for UW, as they turned a 6-6 tie into a 14-7 advantage in game one. Odenthal served 10 consecutive points, including three straight aces, to give Wisconsin the lead. Minnesota (11-7, 4-2) trimmed the margin to 28-27 before the Badgers put the game away.
UW led as late as 18-17 in the second game, but the Gophers rallied behind senior Cassie Busse’s six kills and held off a late Wisconsin charge to win.
A short-lived 5-4 lead was the only one UW would hold in game three, as the Golden Gophers out-hit the Badgers .390 to .154.
Looking for a spark in game four, Waite turned to Weidner and Carlini. Wisconsin responded with a tough win to force the decisive game five thanks to a 7-3 run to close the game.
The final game was closely contested, but the Gophers took an 11-6 lead, breaking a 6-6 tie. UW’s rally fell short, and Minnesota took the match.
“I’m disappointed we had this loss today,” Waite said. “I’m really disappointed we were so inconsistent in our play. We would play some very good ball and be in control of the match, and then make some mental errors — I thought they were truly mental errors — and we put ourselves in a really tough position. That’s too good of a team to give so many opportunities to.”
Bladow led the Badgers in kills with 14, and Shaw and Zukowski each added 13. Minnesota outblocked Wisconsin 16 to seven, and won the digs department by a tally of 74 to 66.
“They came off a few loses and haven’t been having a very consistent season,” Zukowski said. “We knew they would be ready to come out and beat us at our place — give them some adrenaline for the rest of the Big Ten. We just didn’t come out with the fire to match their fire, and look at the outcome.”
