The Wisconsin volleyball team took one of two weekend matches, breaking a three-match losing streak with a Friday-night defeat of Ohio State before falling to Big Ten leader Penn State Saturday.
After dropping consecutive matches to Michigan State, Northwestern and Illinois, UW ended its skid with a 30-25, 30-25, 30-27 win at Ohio State.
“It feels great,” head coach Pete Waite said. “It was just a great effort by our team to raise their energy level and get on the road and play a really good match against one of the best hitters in the country, and to keep her as low as we did is a testament to how hard they’re working on defense and the blocking teams we’re doing. It’s a great team win.”
Sheila Shaw recorded 14 kills to lead three Badgers in double figures. Jill Odenthal added 13, hitting an impressive .632 percentage. Aubrey Meierotto added 11 kills as the Badgers out-hit the Buckeyes 53-47. Wisconsin also hit 34.2 percent as a team compared to 28.1 percent for Ohio State.
“For Odie coming off a sprained ankle from last week, to have a hitting percentage like that and 13 kills is amazing,” Waite said. “She was at times unstoppable, and we needed that; we needed her in there. We did a good job in the middle with Shaw. They have a smaller middle blocker, so we took advantage of their weaknesses.”
The Badgers held the 2002 Big Ten player of the year, Stacey Gordon, to just 11 kills — well below her season average of 6.59 per game.
Senior Jill Maier anchored the Badger defense with 17 digs, while Lisa Zukowski added 10.
The Badgers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in game one and never looked back. The Buckeyes cut the lead to four at 27-23 after two UW errors, but two kills from Meierotto put the game away.
Ohio State took a 9-6 lead in the second game before Wisconsin rallied to tie the game at nine off a Buckeye hitting error. Wisconsin broke a 24-24 tie on a kill from Odenthal and went on to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room.
Shaw had eight kills in the third period to lead the Badgers to the sweep. Wisconsin led 23-18, but Ohio State came back to tie the game at 26. A Buckeye service error gave the Badgers the lead for good before a Shaw kill followed by a block by Shaw and Morgan Shields put the match away.
Saturday night the Badgers were shut down by the conference leading Penn State Nittany Lions, falling 30-24, 30-23, 30-21. Wisconsin (11-7, 19-10) remains tied for fourth in the Big Ten.
“I thought [Lisa Zukowski] had a great night, but unfortunately no one else was there offensively to back her up,” Waite said.
The Wisconsin offense struggled all night, hitting just .099 percent — the second-lowest for UW this season. The Badgers committed 33 hitting errors, most of which were unforced. Zukowski was the only Badger in double-figure kills, recording a season-high 19. Odenthal and Meierotto each added eight kills.
Penn State out-blocked Wisconsin 11-5, but the Badgers played outstanding defense, recording 60 digs compared to 47 for the Nittany Lions. Maier tied her career high with 22 digs while Zukowski added 13 digs for a double double.
“I think a lot of our passes were off the net, so we didn’t have a lot of options, but overall, our passing was not that bad,” Waite said.
The Badgers hit just .196 percent in the first game with 10 attack errors, including six unforced attack errors.
The Nittany Lions led the entire second game, and the Badgers were never able to pull even. Hitting errors again hurt the Badgers despite a change in the lineup. Waite kept Marian Weidner in the front row for Meierotto and subbed in Maria Carlini for Odenthal. Wisconsin hit just .091 for the period, with 11 attack errors.
Wisconsin stayed with the new lineup in game three and it proved to be beneficial early on. Wisconsin led 9-7 off a block from Weidner and Bladow, but four-straight UW hitting errors put the Nittany Lions up 12-9. Ultimately, Penn State took a 19-15 lead off hitting errors and never looked back.
“Right now, we need to regroup and get two wins at home against Indiana and Purdue,” Waite said. “It will be good to play in the Field House and finish strong in the Big Ten. We will need that to give us some momentum going into the NCAA tournament.”
Wisconsin returns home for its final two matches of the Big Ten season. The Badgers host Indiana and Purdue next Friday and Saturday in the UW Field House.
-compiled from staff reports