[media-credit name=’Drew Hansen’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Wisconsin volleyball team ended its regular season on a positive note, knocking off the Indiana Hoosiers 3-1 at University Gym Saturday. After shaking off a frustrating defeat at Purdue a night earlier, UW (19-9, 13-7) rebounded to defeat Indiana (8-23, 2-18) by scores of 30-26, 30-26, 27-30, 30-27.

“I’m pleased we came off a loss on Friday night and came out here and got the win tonight,” Wisconsin head coach Pete Waite said. “It’s always frustrating to get on the road and take one the first night out. I thought the kids stepped it up.”

Despite leading early, the Badgers fell behind 19-15 in the first game thanks to a pair of hitting errors and a net violation. UW retook the lead with a 6-1 run keyed by two kills each from junior outside hitter Aubrey Meierotto and freshman middle Taylor Reineke. After seeing the Hoosiers tie the score three times, Sheila Shaw slammed a kill to put the Badgers ahead for good at 24-23. Wisconsin held off Indiana the rest of the way and took the opener 30-26. UW out-hit IU .390 to .265 in the game and recorded 4.5 blocks to the Hoosiers’ zero.

“We talked to the team about being more aggressive and attacking our opponents more in every part of the game,” Waite said. “I think the team’s focus was good in that area.”

Wisconsin found itself in another battle in game two. After UW opened up a 22-16 advantage, Indiana rallied to draw within one at 27-26. However, two unforced errors and a Meierotto kill finished off the Hoosiers, and the Badgers went into the intermission with a two games to none lead.

IU took the third game by hitting .354 as a team and holding UW to a .207 percentage. Senior Christina Archibald, playing her final match at Indiana, recorded eight kills in the game.

The Badgers never trailed in game four, but had to ward off several late charges from the Hoosiers. With UW leading 28-23, IU closed the margin to two before Wisconsin slammed the door on the comeback, as well as Indiana’s season. Senior Jill Odenthal put down match point and the Badgers emerged with a hard-fought 3-1 win.

Meierotto led the way for Wisconsin, hammering a team-high 19 kills in the match, while hitting at a .378 clip.

“I think I connected with (setter) Jackie (Simpson) really well,” Meierotto said. “She was making really good choices on who to set at what time. I got a lot of split blocks. I just think she did a really good job of running the offense.”

Meierotto continued her recent success against the Hoosiers. After tallying a combined 46 kills against IU last season, she recorded 33 in two meetings with Indiana in 2004. In her last four matches against the Hoosiers, Meierotto is averaging 4.39 kills per game.

Joining Meierotto in double-figure kills were Shaw and Odenthal, who finished with 14 and 13, respectively. In addition to her 54 assists, Simpson also got in on the offensive act, catching the IU defense off-guard with eight kills.

“I think we were passing better tonight, and Jackie was much more aggressive attacking the ball,” Waite said. “That just makes it harder for their blockers to stay with us.”

Defensively, libero Jocelyn Wack led four Badgers in double-figure digs with 24.

In West Lafayette Friday, the Badgers took the first game only to lose the next three and fall to the Boilermakers 30-26, 24-30, 25-30, 26-30. UW hit .425 in the opener, but was held to a combined .171 mark in games two through four.

“I think our youth showed through a little bit,” Waite said. “If you look at the stat sheet, it really wasn’t that they beat us badly in any category. I think they just made some very opportune defensive plays that kept them ahead of us in the match.”

Reigning Big Ten Player of the Week Maria Carlini enjoyed another stellar outing for Wisconsin. The sophomore outside hitter tallied 18 kills and 19 digs in a losing effort.

“You can’t be happy, no matter what the stats say,” Carlini said. “It’s a tough loss on the road.”

With the win over Indiana, Wisconsin finished the season with a 13-7 record in Big Ten play, good for fourth place in the conference. The Badgers will now turn their attention to the NCAA Tournament, which gets underway Friday.

“It was definitely huge for us to get this win,” Odenthal said. “To go into next week focused and ready to play for NCAAs, I think we needed to come out of this weekend with a good attitude on a high note, feeling good about how we ended our season.”