With just three weekends remaining in the season, the Wisconsin volleyball team (16-6, 10-4) has an opportunity to climb the conference standings. This weekend, fourth-place UW takes to the road for matches with the Big Ten co-leaders, No. 4 Penn State (21-2, 12-2) and No. 8 Ohio State (22-2, 12-2).
Hands down the toughest travel pairing in the conference, the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes will both be looking to sweep the season series with the Badgers. Wisconsin began the Big Ten schedule by losing to Ohio State 3-1 Sept. 24, then falling to Penn State 3-0 Sept. 26.
“Obviously they’re tough teams,” Wisconsin head coach Pete Waite said. “When they played here, we weren’t happy with the way we competed. We really didn’t play the way I thought we could and the way we have in the last month. We would really like to prove we’ve become a much better team. Getting a win at either of those places on the road would be great for us in conference and nationally when it comes to tournament selection time.”
The Badgers begin the weekend as guests of the Nittany Lions, who are winners of five consecutive matches. After averaging 4.29 kills per game last weekend, senior outside hitter Syndie Nadeau was named both Big Ten Player of the Week and Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week. On the season, senior outside hitter Ashley Pederson leads the team in kills per game with an average of 4.07. The balanced Nittany Lion attack is quarterbacked by junior setter Sam Tortorello, the younger sister of former UW setter Liz Tortorello.
PSU also puts up a big block, featuring 6-foot-3 freshman Melissa Walbridge, 6-foot-1 sophomore Kim Holm and 6-foot-5 sophomore Cassy Salyer.
“They’re very steady,” Waite said of Penn State. “It’s a pretty veteran team; they’ve got a few young players on the court, but overall it’s a pretty veteran crew. It’s a very talented team made up of All-Americans out of high school.”
Matters will not be any easier for Wisconsin Saturday night when it travels to Columbus to battle Ohio State, which lost sole possession of the Big Ten lead by losing to No. 5 Minnesota. OSU is led by stellar outside hitter Stacey Gordon, whose average of 7.22 kills per game is tops in the nation. Gordon is also hitting an amazing .379 on the season. An excellent all-around contributor, the Buckeye star leads the team in digs per game as well, averaging 3.23.
“You prepare by knowing she’s going to get a lot of balls,” Waite said of Gordon. “The main thing is to understand we’ve got to take care of her teammates also and can’t let them have great matches. That’s the challenge. They’re a team that’s been on great rolls this year — very few losses. They play with confidence and we’ve got to go in there and take our best game to them and see what happens.”
Wisconsin trails in the all-time series with both Penn State and Ohio State. The Nittany Lions are 25-5 against the Badgers all-time, while the Buckeyes own a slight 26-23 advantage over UW.
“Ohio State and Penn State are obviously very good teams,” junior Badger outside hitter and co-captain Aubrey Meierotto said. “I think we’re just going to have to come out with a lot of fire and really fight for the matches. I think it’s going to [be] important for us to really play well and be satisfied with our play.”
