For about 24 hours, the Wisconsin volleyball team was in a tie for first place in the Big Ten. After an at times sluggish 30-25, 23-30, 30-26, 30-24 victory over Michigan on Friday, the Badgers climbed back atop the conference standings thanks to some help from Illinois. The Illini, on the strength of 25 kills from Rachel VanMeter and 22 from Melissa Vandrey, downed league-leading Minnesota 3-2. With Penn State’s 3-0 sweep of Indiana, the Badgers, Golden Gophers, and Nittany Lions had identical 10-3 Big Ten records heading into Saturday’s action.
A win Saturday over Michigan State would have at the very least ensured UW a share of the conference lead.
After three games, Wisconsin found itself up two games to one on the Spartans, with a chance to put them away in game four. Despite leading 25-24, the Badgers were unable to close out the Spartans and fell in game five. A shocking 3-0 victory by Northwestern over Minnesota made the UW loss all the more costly.
“It was a tough match tonight. It was disappointing that we couldn’t finish off and get the win after we heard that Minnesota lost tonight, which would have been great for us to move up in the standings, but I thought we had the match going our way after the third,” head coach Pete Waite said. “I thought they (Michigan State) were struggling, and they made some changes and got back into their own groove and played some good ball at the end. That’s what happens in the Big Ten sometimes, critical plays at the wrong times, and we didn’t have them when we needed them tonight.”
Midway through Saturday’s match, Minnesota’s 3-0 loss to Northwestern was announced to the Field House crowd of 5,479. Waite said the result was anything but a distraction for his team.
“If anything, it should have been an incentive for us to play harder and know that it will mean even more if we can get the win,” he said.
Penn State (11-3) disposed of Purdue in three games Saturday to take sole possession of the Big Ten lead. Building on the Minnesota victory, Illinois made short work of Iowa, defeating the Hawkeyes 30-21, 30-25, 30-28. The win pulled the Illini (10-4) even with second place Minnesota and Wisconsin, a game back of Penn State.
Wisconsin (18-7, 10-4) has six matches remaining, four of them on the road. The Badgers meet the Illini this Saturday and get a chance to break their second place tie. The following weekend, they travel to University Park for a matchup with the Nittany Lions. Illinois meanwhile will close the season out at home against Michigan State. Penn State and Minnesota will face off in a critical match on Nov. 28 in Minneapolis.
