CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Despite final scores of 30-27, 30-20 and 32-30, the final box score of Wisconsin’s loss to Illinois Saturday doesn’t tell the whole story.
Had the Badgers (10-4, 16-6) not given up a few lengthy Illini (8-5, 16-6) scoring runs — an eight-point stretch in game one and a nine-point stretch in game two — Saturday’s match may have had a very different result.
“When teams run off points like that, it takes away from your momentum completely,” Wisconsin outside hitter Aubrey Meierotto said. “It’s kind of hard to step it up, get your energy again and terminate the next ball.”
UW senior Jill Odenthal also said the Illinois scoring runs had a big impact on Saturday’s match, but said the loss will serve as a learning tool for Wisconsin.
“I think that goes back to us being rattled,” said Odenthal, who recorded eight kills and six digs. “We would let one or two mistakes get into our heads, and we would start doing things that we normally wouldn’t do. So, I think this will be a good wake-up call for future matches.”
Although the Badgers gave up some lengthy scoring runs against the Illini, they managed to claw their way back to make a game out of all three contests.
The eight unanswered Illinois points in game one put Wisconsin in an 11-4 hole and the nine-point stretch in game two put the Badgers down 20-9.
But Wisconsin showed resiliency during each contest, outscoring Illinois following each of these junctures.
“It was definitely good to see that we didn’t crumble and didn’t completely fall apart,” Odenthal said. “We came back, and we fought harder. I think that is a glimpse of the team we can be, and we should be, if we keep working. So, that’s good to see. That’s a positive we can take away from the match.”
Streak ends: Before suffering a three-game sweep at the hands of Illinois, Wisconsin had won eight-straight matches, dating back to its Oct. 9 win at Iowa.
The Badgers’ winning streak began after losing 3-0 at Minnesota, as the team made a significant turnaround after the tough road loss, a feat Wisconsin is looking to repeat.
“We talked about refocusing with the team,” UW head coach Pete Waite said. “The last time we lost was at Minnesota, and we made a lot of improvements right after that. And we plan on doing that again.
“All you can do is get in the gym and try to improve again, and then you take a shot. And if you’re on the night when you step on the court and the other team is not, you’ve got a shot at winning.”
Odenthal, like Coach Waite, is looking to learn from Saturday’s match and get back on track.
“We’ve been here before,” she said. “We’ve had other losses, and they’ve been bad; they haven’t been fun. I don’t want say this team takes losing well, but we learn from things very well. And I know that we’re going to come back next week in practice and just know how much harder we have to work and what we have to do to get better.”
Still in the hunt: Wisconsin’s loss to Illinois drops the Badgers’ conference record to 10-4, but they still remain in fourth place in the Big Ten standings.
Penn State and Ohio State are currently tied for first place at 12-2 and are slated as Wisconsin’s next two opponents.
“We were right there with Illinois, and we’re still one game up on them,” Waite said. “So, that’s still very good. Now we’ve got a shot at two of the people that are ahead of us. So, again, we’ll be going after them. And if we get one of those wins, it’s going to be awesome.”
Although the Badgers don’t completely control their own destiny in terms of the race for the conference title, Wisconsin is still gearing their focus toward their own matches and not dwelling on how the teams ahead of them are faring.
“I know that if we just take care of our game for the next couple of matches, things will turn out for us,” Odenthal said. “You never know where the chips are going to fall concerning the rest of the teams … We just look forward to what we’re doing and making that better.”
